Drought monitor, 6 month update

[Scott559]

Pretty dramatic change in the last 6 months.

 

[Greenway4Prez]

In September 2023, most of Linn and all of Benton counties were in “Exceptional Drought” status, a shade of red even darker than the December map.

 

[bagdropper]

A serious dent has indeed been put in the drought. I thought last year was when it was going to break (1993 to 2008 to 2023 intervals) - wound up being a year late.

Just think if we had a normal snow cover across the state that didn't melt until March-April - and these recent deluges began in April and not June.

But the thing to remember is we were in a serious drought for 3+ years. While we current are sitting fairly good overall, we still over time have a pretty serious deficit. Northern Iowa needs to share the excess with east central and SE Iowa - and we also need to keep getting normal average rains across the entire state.

Yes, some places need a break. Just don't stop raining completely is all. An inch a week is all it takes...