Iowa farmers and livestock producers who had hoped to see some relief from the dry weather with a few spin-off rain showers from Hurricane Isaac were left disappointed. None of the rain from the big storm reached our region. U.S.D.A. meteorologist Brad Rippey says it appears the long-running drought is going to run a bit longer.
Rippey says, “Twenty U.S. states in all in that real core drought area across the Plains and upper Midwest continue to get worse even while we saw some improvement along the southeastern edge of the drought area.” Hurricane Isaac did bring needed rains to areas of some states, including, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
Still, Rippey says about two-thirds of the nation is being impacted by the worst drought in decades and the condition of key farmland is steadily deteriorating. Rippey says, “We continue to see every single Plains and Midwestern state with at least 40% of their pastures and range lands rated very poor to poor.”
Some forecasters predict the drought will end in October while others say this weather pattern could remain well into spring.