Washington, DC (KICD) — Thirty-eight Iowa Counties ( more than a third now ) are affected by extreme drought. East Central Iowa showed the biggest change in the weekly update of the USDA Drought monitor. Last week we shot up from only five percent of the state in that category to over seventeen percent, and this week it’s nearly a quarter of Iowa’s land mass.

Just a sliver of the Southwest corner of the state – point eighteen percent – is NOT considered to be affected by drought.

Here in the KICD Broadcast area: Osceola, Dickinson, and Emmet Counties and the Northern portions of O’Brien and Clay counties are classified as “Abnormally Dry” The Southern halves of O’Brien and Clay Counties, and most of Palo Alto, Pocahontas, and Cherokee Counties are in “Moderate Drought” along with the Northwest half of Buena Vista County. The rest of BV about the Western third of Pocahontas County are in “Severe Drought” currently.