October continues to remain dry

State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says October is on pace to keep alive astring of drier-than-normal months in Iowa. The state average so far inOctober is 59-hundreths of an inch of rain, which is one quarter the normalamount.He says it’s not unusual to see a dry October, as the driest month ever wasin October in 1952. Iowa got only two-one-hundreths of an inch of rainfallthat month.Hillaker says things don’t look to get any wetter in November as a dryOctober is usually followed by a dry November.Things are so dry the Governor has requested drought assistance for sevensouthern Iowa counties and the State Fire Marshall is advising everyone tobe careful about burning. There are now eight counties statewide where openburning is banned: Buena Vista, Jasper, Osceola, Wright, Hardin, Boone, Pageand Freemont.