DES MOINES — Overall conditions continue to trend fairly normal across the state during a warmer and drier than normal October.
The first widespread hard freeze of the season occurred on October 17 over the northeast one-half of the state and portions of northwest Iowa. Nearly all rain fell over the final 11 days of October and the states totals varied from 0.61 inches to 4.07 inches for the month of October.
This week’s National Drought Monitor indicates ten percent of Iowa is abnormally dry and another five percent is classified as being in moderate drought. These numbers have been slowly increasing over the past few weeks, but should remain stable as drought conditions generally change little over the winter months.
For a thorough review of Iowa’s water resource trends, go to www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate.
The report is prepared by the technical staff from the Iowa DNR, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering and the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with The Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department.