After a few weeks of modest improvements, drought conditions are again worsening in many parts of Iowa as the hottest, driest season of summer is about to begin.
Despite a few recent rain showers that soaked some areas of Iowa, state climatologist Justin Glisan says many other areas remain bone-dry, and June is already starting out quite warm. “We’re about eight degrees above average for the first five days,” Glisan says. “We have had some spotty rainfall, pop-up thunderstorms, on several days last week. If we look at the outlooks in the short term, so getting out into the middle of June, we are seeing a near-normal to slightly elevated signal for somewhat warmer temperatures through the middle of the month.”
Computer models also indicate we may be trending toward near-normal precipitation to perhaps wetter-than-average conditions. Looking back at spring, which is traditionally March, April and May, it was the opposite.”We started spring on the wetter side and we started May on the wetter side as well,” Glisan says, “but overall we had about 6.2 inches across the state over those three months, when we expect about 11 inches, so almost four inches below average.”
Glisan says it’s shaping up to be the 20th driest spring on record for Iowa, and rainfall during May was scarce. “Overall, you look at the statewide average, May being the second-wettest month climatologically, we’re right around 2.7 inches,” Glisan says, “and that’s a little over two inches below average. If we look at rankings going back 151 years, this is nearing the 25th the driest May on record.”
The just-concluded month was also warmer than normal. “We were above average by about two degrees, so warmer than average for May,” he says, “but we also had lower dewpoint temperatures, so we were able to cool off at night, so it didn’t feel like a particularly warm month until the end of the month.”
A few counties in far eastern and northeastern Iowa are considered “normal” on the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, while roughly 53 counties are considered abnormally dry, and around 40 counties are in moderate to exceptional drought.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)