DES MOINES, Iowa -- Holding off drought in Iowa right now is a matter of where the rain's falling--and where it's not.
"Any time we get rain across the middle part of the state, and in Southwest Iowa, it's not helping drought conditions in Woodbury County and along the Missouri River in Northwest Iowa," says Iowa Department of Natural Resources Hydrology Resources Coordinator.
He says Iowa got just under 3.5 inches of rain in May, about 1.5 inches below normal.
Hall says that helped prolong drought in Northwest Iowa, where all or part of 13 counties are still in moderate or severe drought--some places running nearly 2.5 inches behind for 2022.
"It can take along time to slowly eat our way into a drought, and coming out on the other side can take just as long," he says.
As for June, Hall says it's Iowa's wettest month of the year.
"We should see between 5 and 5.5 inches of rain in the month of June--we should be seeing an inch to 1.5 inches every week just to keep pace. If we continue to do that, we'll continue to work our way out of some of these conditions," Hall says.
He says rain in June can be offset by increasingly hot summertime temperatures, which can increase demand for that rainfall.
This week's National Monitor Map shows about 28 percent of Iowa is abnormally dry, or in some level of drought condition.
Image from the National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln