Drought monitor shows ‘abnormally dry’ conditions have grown across Iowa

While Iowa remains drought-free, abnormally dry conditions have spread across the state.

About 65 percent of the state is currently experiencing abnormal dryness, up 22 percent from last week, according to data from Thursday’s update of the U.S. Drought Monitor. The weekly report is issued Thursdays, based on data pulled on Tuesdays.

“We're moving into the driest part of the year, so we do expect less rainfall on a weekly basis,” said Justin Glisan, state climatologist with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

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The area of abnormal dryness stretches across much of northern and western Iowa, and a portion of southern Iowa. There also is a small patch of abnormal dryness in far southeast Iowa.

Glisan said in 152 years of record-keeping, this year was Iowa’s ninth-wettest start of the year. And although drought indicators like soil moisture and stream flow are now on the “drier side” of the spectrum in the state, Glisan said they still are in a near-normal category in Eastern Iowa.

The drought monitor shows no dryness in Linn, Johnson, Muscatine, Cedar, Jones, Jackson Clinton and Scott counties.

“When you do see drier stretches like we had in August and getting into the first part of September, that’s where you can start to see this abnormally dry category reemerge,” Glisan said. “We see these abnormally dry conditions somewhere in the state almost every year or two years.”

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One year ago, nearly half the state was classified as having severe drought. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports 2023 was the 22nd driest in state history.

The last time Iowa experienced conditions across the drought continuum was in May, when nearly 21 percent of the state had “moderate drought” conditions. In late May, following heavy rain, the state became drought-free for the first time since 2020.

Glisan said the current dry conditions should not cause concern, given the “wet stretch we had from early spring into summer.”

The greater worry, he said, is the potential for combine or field fires due to drier fields.

“We just want farmers to be cognizant of the conditions out there, get the machinery and the combines looked at to make sure they're ready to go,” Glisan said. “But overall, I'm not too concerned right now.”

The U.S. Drought Monitor’s drought categories are:

“D1 and D2, that’s where you start to get into drought,” Glisan said. “That’s where you’re starting to see longer-term impacts.”

Summer and winter droughts in Iowa are different because of the growing season.

“It's more impactful when you see those drought conditions during the growing season, particularly during the first part of the growing season,” Glisan said. “So right now, even if we were to see D1 [moderate drought] pop-up on the map, it's not really a reflection of the crop, since the crop is basically done [growing].”

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Joshua Michel, an Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist for Northeast Iowa, said there’s not a lot of concern now, since Iowa is not currently experiencing drought conditions. However, Michel said the dry conditions could grow.

“If we continued to not receive any rainfall over the next couple of weeks, I would expect that we could potentially see D0 continue expanding into eastern Iowa,” Michel said. “Now there's a chance that maybe it would get upgraded to a D1. Once we hit that D1, which is a moderate drought, then that starts to bring a little bit of concern.”

The National Weather Service’s weather forecast for Cedar Rapids for the next week shows only slight chances of rain — 20 to 30 percent — on Friday night and Sunday.

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