Recent drenching rains…and more predicted for this weekend…may put an end to the specter of drought in parts of Iowa. Though it was a winter of light snowfall, climatologist Mark Svoboda in the National Drought Mitigation Center says the state’s mostly recovered from below-normal rainfall totals.It’s nothing that couldn’t be made up with a wet spring and so far we’re getting what the doctor ordered, with the departures from normal mostly under control though it’s still dry in the eastern and northern parts of Iowa, which have rainfall deficits of three to four inches so far this year. The western half of Iowa’s been in better shape than the eastern part this winter, not enough to completely pull them out of the longterm drought and low water levels in that corner of southwest Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. Year-to-date, he says most areas are about normal for precip, and not eradicating the longterm drought pattern, so we hope for a wet May and June.
