DES MOINES, Iowa -- Another week with little rain across much of Iowa sees another expansion of drought conditions.
The new National Drought Monitor Map shows more moderate drought in Southeast Iowa, and more abnormally dry conditions across Southern, Central, and Eastern Iowa.
The map also shows an expansion of the ongoing moderate, severe, and extreme drought in Northwest Iowa.
"That's exacerbated by the fact the June and July are typically really wet months in the state of Iowa, and we just haven't seen--we haven't even seen normal rain for the last couple of months--let alone anything above normal," says Tim Hall, Iowa Department of Natural Resources Hydrology Resources Coordinator.
After a wet spring, Hall says the rain has tapered off across Iowa in the summer months.
"So far, year-to-date on average in the state we're about two-and-a-half inches behind where we should be," he says
There's not much relief in the long-range forecast, with hot and dry conditions expected through the first week of August.
"As the the temperature gets higher, we'll see demand in general go up--whether its from corn and soybean plants, from human consumption, whether it's just evaporation, whether it's more water for animal agriculture," Hall says.
Iowa State Climatologist Justin Glisan says temperatures during the upcoming heatwave are expected to peak around August 4th or 5th with the mercury topping 100 degrees.
Map image from the National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln