This week?s U.S. Drought Monitor didn?t have any changes for Iowa, but that alone is still good news. Given how crazy and volatile the global situation is when it comes to crops, it was nice to see some consistency. Iowa State Climatologist Dr. Justin Glisan said this was pretty great to see with the delays to planting that we?ve seen this year.
Western Iowa is still seeing some drought issues, though, and they even got clipped by part of a derecho in the northwestern part of the state. We also had a heat wave throughout most of the state, which helped elevate soil temps. Glisan talked about how last week?s weather influenced planting progress across the state.
April felt like a particularly wet month, but it only came out to be slightly wetter than average. The rain should be expected, though, since April, May, and June are generally the three wettest months in Iowa. This month, however, has been a different story. Glisan said that the state is actually drier than normal for the month of May.
Additionally, there was some surprising news that came out this week concerning the La Nina weather pattern. It looks it will likely be sticking around at least until October. Glisan said this elevates the chance for it to also linger through this winter.
For more information, visit iowaagriculture.gov/climatology-bureau.
