A week after the majority of the region was blanketed in severe drought, recent rains have helped all of north central and northeast Iowa improve into the moderate drought category, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor for Iowa.
Based on precipitation through 7 am Tuesday, November 5, all of Allamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Clayton, Hancock, Howard, Floyd, Fayette, Franklin, Grundy, Mitchell, Winneshiek, Worth and Wright counties all rated in the D1 category for moderate drought. The majority of Kossuth and Winnebago counties are also in moderate drought.
The National Weather Service in La Crosse says, from August 7th through November 5th (past 90 days), rainfall totals ranged from 3.40″ near Rochester, MN to 10.57″ near Prairie du Chien, WI. This still leaves rainfall deficits from 1 to 7″ across northeast Iowa, southeast Minnesota, and west central Wisconsin.
According to NWS data, during the latest drought monitoring period from October 30th to November 5th, Charles City totaled 2.73 inches of rain, Nashua just short of three inches, with Osage and Oelwein between two and 2.5 inches each. New Hampton and Decorah recorded about 3.5 inches of rain apiece, with both getting over half of their total rainfall on Sunday (11.03) alone, with New Hampton at 1.72 inches and Decorah two inches.
