Parts of Iowa are soaked and keep getting more rain. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says normally, at this point in June, the statewide average rainfall total for the month is 3.72 inches. The average statewide rainfall so far in June of this year is just over five inches.
Hillaker says portions of southeast Iowa have received much more than five inches this month. While parts of far northern and western Iowa are drier than normal, Hillaker says some towns in southeast Iowa have recorded up to 10 inches of rain in June. Of course, this June is nothing like one year ago when cities and towns were buried under flood waters.
The January through June period in 2008 produced a record 24.5 inches of rain. "This year, rain totals are running about six inches less (on average) statewide than what they were a year ago," Hillaker said. Another reason Iowa’s not experiencing flooding this year is temperatures have been much warmer than they were in 2008.
"It just goes to show how cool it was a year ago," Hillaker said. "Those lower temperatures meant less evaporation and less drying going on…so, it just aggravated how wet things were." Until recently, it’s also been a quiet year for severe weather in Iowa.
Only a handful of tornadoes were reported in the state prior to Monday’s storms that sparked 12 twisters in northern and eastern Iowa. Last year, a record 105 tornadoes touched down in Iowa.