DES MOINES, Iowa -- A recent stretch of hot, dry weather combined with ongoing drought across Iowa is prompting some burn bans.
"The last couple of weeks we've really noticed the crops drying out. Obviously that happens every year--it's part of the cycle we all go through," says Iowa State Fire Marshal Dan Wood.
As of Wednesday morning, there are burn bans in Grundy County in Eastern Iowa, Delaware, Buchanan, and Fayette counties in the northeast, Hancock and Worth counties Northern Iowa, and Greene County in Central Iowa. Wood says more are likely.
"I would expect we'll keep adding more. Especially in the spring obviously we're dry--in the fall we usually get between, at our highest point, we get between 20 and 30 counties with burn bans. I think this spring we had 33 at our highest," Wood says.
Wood says the answer to the problem is obvious--Iowa needs rain.
"Any's better than none. I think it's going to take quiet a bit to get us out of this dryness," he says.
While cooler weather's settled across Iowa, the next chance for rain anywhere in the state comes late Sunday into Monday.