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Rains persist across Corn Belt

A climatologist says abnormally dry areas of the Corn Belt recently picked up some timely rains.

Justin Glisan with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship says parts of the Eastern Corn Belt have been dealing with some moderate drought conditions. “We’ve seen some thunderstorm activity in the Eastern Corn Belt and so we’ve seen some rebound in precipitation amounts.”

But he tells Brownfield, “We do have pockets of dryness, particularly in the Eastern Corn Belt and that’s really been a flip from this time last year.”

Glisan says eastern Iowa benefited from moisture this week. “With this wetter forecast and even the outlooks out 14 days suggestion an elevated chance of wetter conditions, we could see additional removal of this D0 (drought).”

The latest July outlook from the National Weather Service shows elevated chances of warmer temperatures over southern Iowa and a wetter signal statewide.