While some parts of Iowa experienced damaging hail from severe thunderstorms this week, other areas of the state received much-needed rainfall to help crops rebound from dry conditions.
Iowa State Climatologist Dr. Justin Glisan says that while Thursday?s U.S. Drought Monitor shows severe drought expansion week-to-week, the map doesn?t reflect rain showers that fell after Tuesday morning.
?We had a slight expansion of D2 conditions towards the Wisconsin border,? said Glisan. ?We did see a little bit of improvement in west-central Iowa and then also in southeastern Iowa where we saw rainfall totals the previous 7 days on the order of 2-4 inches.?
?The 1st through the 23rd (of June), the statewide average precipitation is about 1.51 inches,? he continued. ?That would be the 8th driest start to June on record.?
Glisan acknowledges many farmers in northwest and central Iowa unfortunately experienced crop damage from hailstorms this week. However, he says precipitation in other areas was pivotal.
?This was the million-dollar rainfall that we needed given the dry and hot start to June,? said Glisan. ?We had the 7th warmest start to June during that heat wave period. Those hot temperatures combined with low relative humidity days really induced a lot of moisture stress in corn and beans. We have now seen a rebound with this rainfall across the state.?
Glisan adds the forecast into the weekend shows elevated chances of rainfall, up to 3-4 inches, according to several NOAA weather models.
