First quarter is Iowa’s driest since 1994

With planting season fast approaching in a year whose first quarter is the driest since 1994, the 'D” word is again creeping into some farmers' minds.

'Yes, it is,” said Wayne Humphreys, who, like most Iowa farmers, suffered substantial yield losses during the monumental drought of 2012.

'My intuition tells me subsoil moisture is adequate, but the soil surface is exceptionally dry for this time of year,” said Humphreys, a Muscatine County farmer and district director for the Iowa Corn Promotion Board.

National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Phillip at the Quad Cities office said it's not too soon to be thinking of a potential drought.

'A large part of Iowa is rated as abnormally dry and the next step is moderate drought,” he said.

Though Iowa is building a precipitation deficit, 'a couple of good rains would catch us up in a hurry,” said State Climatologist Harry Hillaker.

Although no part of Iowa is rated as moderate drought, more than half the counties, generally in a semicircle from northwest Iowa, across the top of the state and down the eastern side, including Linn and Johnson counties, are rated as abnormally dry, according to the March 31 edition of the National Drought Monitor.

Almost all of Minnesota is in moderate drought.

'If it's going to be dry, this is the best time for it,” said Buchanan County farmer Tracy Franck.

Franck said a good rain soon would help settle and warm the soil before planting.

'The real rainfall need comes after the plants are up and growing,” he said.

Iowa Corn Promotion Board Vice President Mark Heckman, who also farms in Muscatine County, said publicity of the ongoing drought in California raises anxiety among farmers. But like Franck, he is not too worried about dry conditions in planting season.

'Here in Iowa we always have to count on timely growing season rains,” he said.

Iowa's average precipitation for the first three months of this year is 2.31 inches, which compares with a normal of 4.12 inches, Hillaker said.

Cedar Rapids has recorded a January-through March total of 2.66 inches, which compares with a normal of 4.3 inches, he said.

The dry conditions became apparent earlier this week when strong winds and low humidity combined with last year's desiccated vegetation, causing numerous grass fires including one that temporarily closed a stretch of Interstate 80 near Durant.

The dry conditions are also reflected in below-normal flow rates for about half the state's rivers, with none of the more than 100 Iowa gauges operated by the U.S. Geological Survey showing an above-normal flow rate.

As of Thursday, the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids was discharging 2,600 cubic feet per second, which compares with the normal April 2 rate of 9,150 cfs.

Cedar Rapids Utility Director Steve Hershner said recent dry weather poses no threat to drinking water supplies.

'Some of our vertical wells have experienced a slight reduction in water level, but water levels in the horizontal collector wells are remaining fairly constant,” he said.