According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, almost all of the region was considered to be in severe drought prior to the rains of Wednesday (10.30) into Thursday (10.31),.
Based on precipitation through 7 am Tuesday, October 29th, all of Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw, Howard, Fayette, Franklin, Winneshiek, Allamakee, Buchanan, Black Hawk, Grundy, and Clayton counties were rated in the D2 category for severe drought.
Minus a very small section in the northwest corner of the county, the vast majority of Floyd County is also now in severe drought along with the southern three-quarters of Cerro Gordo County. The rest of Cerro County is in moderate drought.
The southern two-thirds of Hancock County is also in severe drought as well as the eastern quarter of Mitchell County. The western three-quarters of Mitchell County, all of Worth County and the majority of Winnebago County are in moderate drought.
The National Weather Service in La Crosse reports that, from July 31st through October 29th (past 90 days), rainfall totals ranged from 1.57″ near Oelwein, IA to 9.97″ near Winona, MN. This resulted in rainfall deficits from 1 to 9″ across northeast Iowa, southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
