DES MOINES, Iowa -- This week's Drought Monitor Map is showing little change from a week ago--most of Iowa is still at least abnormally dry, with 10 counties in Southwest and West-Central Iowa in extreme drought.
"Getting rain in areas where there's extreme drought is good, but it's going to take a few rainfalls before we can throttle back on those conditions a little bit" says Iowa Department of Natural Resources Hydrology Resources Coordinator Tim Hall.
He says more of Western Iowa has slipped from moderate into severe drought.
"Pottawattamie and Harrison counties--those are the areas that were moved from D1 a week ago to D2 this week. So, a slight change" he says
As dry conditions persist across Iowa, Hall says the level of rivers where many cities get drinking water are being monitored.
"Streams and rivers tend to fill up the sand and gravel along their edges--that's where municipalities put down wells to pull out water for drinking supplies. The next thing that happens after lower stream flow is we tend to see lower groundwater levels" he says
This week's Drought Monitor Map shows nearly 80 percent of Iowa is at least abnormally dry.