Washington, DC (Northwestiowanow.com) — The map looks better for Northwest Iowa again this week in the Thursday update of the USDA Drought Monitor. A majority of our nine counties – Osceola, Dickinson, Emmet, Palo Alto, and Pocahontas Counties, and practically all of Buena Vista County are now in the D-Zero “Abnormally Dry” Category. The approximate Western 1/3rd of Clay County, mostly all of O’Brien County, and the Northwest half of Cherokee County remain listed in the D-1 “Moderate Drought” category.

21 percent of the state is now drought free, 49 percent is abnormally dry, and 29 percent is in Moderate Drought.