Washington DC (northwestiowanow.com) — The USDA Drought Monitor was updated this morning. The one problem with a weekly Thursday report, is that it reflects conditions as of Tuesday night. So, this week’s Iowa Map does not take into account the rain we received Wednesday and Thursday.

So, with that disclaimer: As of Tuesday evening, 51 percent of the state had entered the Severe Drought Category, up 19 percent last week.

All of Osceola, O’Brien, Dickinson, Emmet, practically all of Clay County; most of Cherokee County except for the Southeast Corner. the Northwest half of Palo Alto County, and now the Northwest tip of Buena Vista County are in D-2 Severe Drought. The remainder of the area remains in D-1 moderate drought. Conditions also got worse in Northeast Iowa, but improved.

We’ll learn next week what the recent rain and the forecasted rain early next week might have on soil moisture conditions.