After weeks of intense heat and little-to-no rainfall, parts of Iowa got a welcome drenching over the weekend. John Holmes, a field agronomist with the Iowa State University Extension based in Clarion, says the cloudburst brought relief to the many, many acres of crops that have been suffering in this hot summer sun.
“This rain did a tremendous amount to save crops that were really going to fail,” Holmes says. “Corn was starting to turn brown, even the better corn was just barely hanging on so this bought us some real time.” There were reports of an inch of rain in parts of north-central Iowa and Holmes says every drop helps, however things don’t turn around with one rain.
“We’re not out of the woods by any means,” he says. “We definitely need more rain and hopefully the weather patterns will change to where we’ll see maybe a more timely rain, occasionally, each week.” The latest Iowa crop report will be released later this afternoon.
The National Weather Service says this month could end up being Iowa’s second-hottest month on record, second only to July of 1936.