The U.S. Drought Monitor on Thursday has confirmed what we already knew. Drought conditions have worsened across the state and crops are feeling the impacts.
Iowa State Climatologist Dr. Justin Glisan tells IARN that severe drought coverage has greatly expanded from northwest Iowa into many other parts of the state. Roughly 40 percent of Iowa is included the Drought Monitor?s severe drought category.
?We did see that D2 Severe Drought category swing down into central and west-central Iowa,? said Glisan. ?It also expanded across the Iowa/Minnesota border. If we look at the D1-to-D2 category, 76 percent of the state right now. That?s up from 57 percent last week. This is the greatest extent of D1-to-D2 that we?ve seen since October of 2013.?
Significant precipitation deficits coupled with a stretch of very warm and low humidity days have led to further degradation and expansion in the current #Drought21 depiction for #Iowa. (1/2) #IowaAg #IowaClimate #grow21 pic.twitter.com/2kVnEhx3wE
— Justin Glisan (@JustinMGlisan) June 17, 2021
Glisan also confirmed what was released on the USDA?s weekly crop progress report regarding crop stress. He says corn and soybean stress is visible in many Iowa fields.
?We?re seeing pineapple corn,? said Glisan. ?Those corn leaves are rolling in the morning. To see corn leaves rolling in the morning in June is not a good thing to see. Also, soybean leaves are flipping over and we?re seeing cracks in the fields. This is telling us that the crop is already moisture stressed.?
Glisan notes precipitation deficits are really starting to accumulate from a year prior. At this point, he says Iowa would need one inch of water per week to hold things status quo.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor can be viewed here.
