Washington DC (Northwestiowanow.com) — The KICD Broadcast area took a step backward again in the weekly update of the USDA Drought Monitor.
As of Thursday morning roughly half of the nine counties are now in the D-1 Moderate Drought category. All of Buena Vista and Cherokee; most of Palo Alto and Pocahontas; and a portion of Eastern Emmet County are in the D-1 category with the remainder in the D-Zero Abnormally Dry category.
54 percent of Iowa is now considered to be Drought free, down from 64 percent one week ago. 24 percent is abnormally dry, up two percent; and 22 percent has moderate drought, up from 14 percent. Just a few townships on the Nebraska border near Council Bluff have slipped into the D-2 “Severe Drought” category.