DES MOINES, Iowa -- Drought conditions are improving across the state of Iowa.
"At the beginning of March we had 90 percent of the state in some form of drought or dryness. Now we're down under 70 percent, so we're certainly moving things in the right direction," says Iowa Department of Natural Resources Hydrology Resources Coordinator Tim Hall.
Hall says rain and snow that's fallen on Iowa this month is doing a lot to ease lingering drought conditions from last year.
"We haven't seen any flash-flooding, we haven't seen any significant rise in streamflow across the state, which tells me that a lot of that rainfall in ending up in the soil where we'd really like to see it," he says
Hall says Iowa's coming into the best time of year for easing drought conditions lingering from last year.
"April, May, and June are the three wettest months. We have plenty of opportunity to improve conditions if we just get normal to slightly-above-normal precipitation," he says.
Hall says while Iowa averages less than an inch of precipitation in January, that jumps to five inches in June.
Hall says this week's National Drought Monitor Map doesn't reflect Tuesday's rain or Thursday morning's snow that fell across Iowa.