DES MOINES, Iowa -- Not much change in Iowa's drought conditions for the last couple of weeks.
"We're going into the winter months when things are pretty consistent. We have not had extreme events like really, really heavy rain or zero rain. It's kind of what we'd expect--it just sort of stays in the middle as we work our way toward winter," says Iowa Department of Natural Resources Hydrology Resources Coordinator Tim Hall.
This week's National Drought Monitor Map still shows areas of moderate drought in Northern, East-Central, and far Eastern Iowa.
Most of the eastern half of the state, along with a small part of Northwest Iowa are abnormally dry.
He says any rain or snow that falls on the state now before the ground freezes for winter will help next spring.
"Any time we have any kind of moisture, whether it's melting snow, sleet or rain on top of ground that is not completely frozen that's a good thing. That water will work its way into the soil profile," Hall says.
He says Iowa's not likely to see much more in the way of drought relief for the next few months.
"If you add up the typical moisture that we get in the months of December, January and February that's about equal to what we get, on average, in the month of September," Hall says.
Hall says he'd like to see normal or just-above normal snowfall this winter to help the state's moisture level in the spring.
Image from National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln