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‘Severe drought’ enters western Iowa, ‘moderate drought’ spreading
This September was the driest on record in 152 years
Oct. 3, 2024 5:33 pm, Updated: Nov. 25, 2024 9:43 pm
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This September was the driest September in Iowa in the 152 years of statewide record-keeping, according to preliminary rainfall reports.
That lack of rain showed up in the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday, with two counties in far western Iowa — Harrison and Monona — now seeing “severe drought” conditions.
About 70 percent of the state is experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions, with nearly 22 percent of the state now in “moderate drought,” an increase of nearly 10 percent from last week.
That dryness is bad news for now and also bad news for next spring.
“My main concern right now is banking any soil moisture before the (soil) freezes in winter,” State Climatologist Justin Glisan told The Gazette. “We need this precipitation to replenish soil reserves that have been depleted through the growing season and in the presence of recent short-term dryness.
“What’s remarkable is that this is still around the 30th wettest year on record for the state, given the very wet spring and early summer.”
The last 30 to 45 days in Iowa, however, have been particularly dry.
Glisan said the unseasonably warm and dry conditions likely will continue through mid-October, with “minuscule” chances of rain and with the drought continuing to spread.
States bordering Iowa also are experiencing drought conditions.
In Minnesota, 51 percent of the state is “abnormally dry” and 43 percent is in moderate drought conditions. In Missouri, 37 percent of the state is seeing abnormally dry conditions, 16 percent is in moderate drought and nearly 8 percent is in severe drought.
Ohio is the only Midwest state experiencing both “extreme” and “exceptional” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Looking ahead
Keith Schilling, a state geologist and director of the Iowa Geological Survey, also finds the growing drought conditions worrisome.
“Growing severe drought areas in Iowa is concerning because fall is typically a time for recharging subsurface soil moisture reserves and shallow groundwater,” Schilling said. “Less recharge in the fall means less subsurface water available next spring when crops are planted and perennial vegetation begins to grow.”
Schilling said that although long-term weather patterns are difficult to predict, regional forecasts he’s seen suggest that these conditions could persist for the “coming weeks and months.”
But increased rainfall later in the year could help the drought, Schilling said.
“As we observed earlier this year, a period of sustained rainfall can quickly reset the clock on drought and bring us back to more normal conditions,” Schilling said.
Parts of Iowa were in drought for nearly four years — 203 weeks — until this May, when record rainfall ended that drought.
Fall color, harvest
Jim Coffey, a forest wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said continued drought conditions will impact the color of fall foliage and also could change the state’s wildlife patterns.
“In the immediate future, from a natural resource perspective, we will most likely see a subdued fall color scenario for our trees,” Coffey said.
”If wetlands stay dry, our fall duck migration will be more diverted to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, or the ducks will pass over us for waters to the south.“
Coffey said that most droughts have longer impacts on non-native vegetation. But native plants, he said, “are typically able to withstand a variety of conditions.”
The lack of rainfall has given farmers ample opportunity to start their harvests of corn and soybeans.
The soybean harvest, which starts before corn is ready, is three days ahead of last year's pace and the five-year average, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. About a quarter of the state's soybeans had been harvested at the start of this week.
The conditions have also led to dryer grain. Corn and soybeans with higher moisture content weigh more.
"They're kind of dry," said Dan Voss, of the soybeans on his farm near Palo. "We're losing a little bit of yield with low moisture — losing a little bit of water weight you could sell."
But yields so far are great in Linn County, he said. One of his neighbors, he said, had trouble transporting corn out of fields fast enough to keep pace with how fast the combine was harvesting.
The USDA predicts average yields will set a record this year in Iowa.
Fire threat
The dry conditions also have heightened the threat of field fires.
Burn bans are active in a quarter of the state, including in Benton, Delaware and Iowa counties, according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Plant leaves and stalks discarded during harvest have the potential to catch fire when they touch hot equipment. Those fires can spread quickly in the dry, warm and windy conditions seen in recent days.
One such fire burned about 80 acres of harvested, unharvested and conservation farmland just south of Iowa City on Saturday.
"It spread very quickly, said Matt Pantel, chief of the Hills Fire Department.
It took firefighters from nine departments about two hours to contain and extinguish the fire in the 4600 block of Dane Road SW, less than a mile west of Highway 218.
A combine being used to harvest grain also caught fire Saturday near Quasqueton, in Buchanan County, and numerous other fires have been reported in other parts of the state this week.
Jared Strong of The Gazette contributed to this report.
Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
Comments: (319) 398-8370; olivia.cohen@thegazette.com
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