(Undated) -- Recent rains have eased Iowa's drought picture. This week's U.S. .Drought Monitor still shows nearly all of Iowa in drought near drought, but the severity has eased.
The report notes improvement in northeast Iowa, which has been in D3 (extreme) drought for months. Many counties along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa have also improved as well as multiple counties in northwest Iowa, which are no longer dry.
The report does not include rainfall from Tuesday. Many parts of Iowa received between a half-inch up to over an inch of rain as multiple storms and tornados developed throughout the day on Tuesday.
The National Weather Service is predicting cloudy conditions with light rain today (Thursday). The next several days are expected to be cool and dry.