As we get into the colder and drier part of the year, we don’t really see much change to the Iowa drought monitor. However, state climatologist Dr. Justin Glisan said that this year’s drought map looks significantly better than last year.
Glisan said a large-scale atmospheric pattern called a meridional flow was responsible for the arctic blasts of air we saw recently. These cold temperatures are in contrast to the warmer weather we saw last month.
We’ve seen less snowfall across the state in the last few decades due to warmer atmospheric conditions, but Glisan said a weak La Nina could change that for this winter.
If we do end up seeing more snow, Glisan said we don’t want it to be light and puffy like it was this week, as that type of snow has a very low moisture content.
For more information, visit iowaagriculture.gov/climatology-bureau.
