DES MOINES, Iowa -- A pocket of extreme drought in Northwest Iowa is gone--for the first time in six months.
"It's a thin margin, but we're moving in the right direction," says Iowa Department of Natural Resources Hydrology Resources Coordinator Tim Hall. "We've seen a steady reduction in the areas covered by the different classifications of drought in the state," he says.
This week's National Drought Monitor now shows just over 60 percent of Iowa with no drought at all.
"It's a good indication that things are gradually improving--things are getting better. We just want to keep moving in that direction," Hall says.
He says Iowa's coming into the wettest months of the year.
"We're moving into the time of the year when we would expect to see an inch a week of rain, kind of from here through July," Hall says.
The National Drought Monitor does show areas of moderate and severe drought in Northwest Iowa, with most of the northern third of the state abnormally dry.
Image from The National Drought Mitigation Center--University of Nebraska-Lincoln