(Des Moines) State Climatologist Dr. Justin Glisan says temperatures averaged near normal across Iowa and southwest Iowa for August.
Glisan says cooler temperatures filtered into the state earlier in the month, averaging four degrees below normal during the Iowa State Fair. There were only two or three days when temperatures reached the 90s.
Dr. Glisan reports above-average precipitation in the southwest Iowa counties along the Missouri border and slightly below-normal precipitation north of these counties. All totaled, southwest Iowa’s precipitation closed out at three-tenths of an inch above average
This does not signal drought but a 30-to-60-day precipitation deficit. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor Map showed a slight increase in the D0 category in northwest and west central Iowa. Glisan says drier and warmer conditions are forecast for the southwest region of the state, which could cause an expansion of the DO category.