DES MOINES, Iowa -- A stretch of rainy, cool weather is helping take more of Iowa out of drought.
"The worst of the drought is now pushed to those northwestern eight to 10 counties. Much of the southeastern part of the state is completely removed from the Monitor's drought conditions" says
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Hydrology Resources Coordinator Tim Hall.
The National Drought Monitor Map shows nearly 60 percent of Iowa with no drought at all.
"This is not all bad to have these dreary days where we're not getting a lot of evaporation, and the moisture we have is being allowed to soak into the soil. In the grand scheme of things, it's a good thing" Hall says.
He says Iowa is getting rain to ease drought conditions the right way.
"While we have seen drought conditions reduced across the state, we have not done that by getting a bunch of flash flooding. We haven't seen a lot of flooding in the state, and that's great," Hall says.
He says Western Iowa was as much as eight inches of rain below normal going into winter. He says it's going to take time to turn that around.