The number of Iowa counties under burn bans continues to climb, with most of them in north central and northeast Iowa.
Among the latest counties to go under a burn ban is Kossuth County, approved by the State Fire Marshal’s office and in effect as of 9 am Monday (02.03) morning.
The burn bans come in the wake of continued dry and windy conditions, with the latest U.S. Drought Monitor for Iowa out last Thursday (01.30) rating about two-thirds of the region in moderate drought and the remaining areas rated as abnormally dry.
The majority of the burn bans began going into effect on Thursday (01.30) with Hardin County in effect at 8 am, Winneshiek County at 8:30 am, Howard County at noon, Delaware County at 3 pm, Floyd County at 4 pm and Bremer County at 6 pm.
Burn bans went into effect at 8 am on Friday (01.31) for Grundy and Buchanan counties and at noon for Franklin and Clayton counties.
As of 1 pm Monday (02.03), there were 14 county burn bans in effect in Iowa.
