State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says drought concerns have eased somewhat although the past six weeks been “surprisingly drier” than normal.Hillaker says northwestern Iowa got record rain in August, but the last wet week came in early October. Hillaker says November, so far, is the 4th driest on record, so it hasn’t been an ideal fall for getting drought-striken parts of Iowa back to normal, but he says this time of year things don’t get much worse. Evaporation rates are low at this time of year, so Hillaker says what little precipitation we get will help the situation. Hillaker says no serious water problems will crop up until late spring or early summer. Southcentral Iowa is presently the driest part of the state. Hillaker says the southern part of the state got mist in August when the rest of the state was getting substantial rain. Hillacker says the dry area stretches from Bedford in the southwest to as far southeast as Fairfield.