Dry, wilting crops may have prompted some Iowa farmers to pray for rain in recent weeks, but some of them may’ve prayed a little too hard. Parts of northwest Iowa were drenched in Wednesday’s thunderstorms, as parched areas quickly became lakes. James Oberreuter is a farmer from Danbury in Woodbury County. “We got around four inches of rain here,” Oberreuter says. “It came out of the fields pretty good. Luckily, the crop was pretty tall and it didn’t do a lot of damage.” Four inches of rain wouldn’t be so bad over a few weeks, but he says this deluge was a bit too much of a good thing. “It came in about an hour and a half period of time,” Oberreuter says. “It just kept coming. One thunderstorm would go over and another one would take its place.” He says rainfall was spotty, as the four inches that fell on his field was a rare amount.  “You didn’t have to go more than about four or five miles away and they only got about two or two and a half (inches),” he says. “It’s a summertime rain. We got a whole bunch and you didn’t have to go too far and they didn’t get hardly any.”

In the KJAN listening area, rainfall amounts varied widely, from .45″ in Malvern, to as much as 1.6-inches near Avoca. In Atlantic, we received just under eight-tenths of an inch of rain (.79″). Up at “The Valley” (near the Hwy 71/I-80 interchange), a listener reported 1.00″.  A listener in Audubon reports 1.5-inches. Other reports include: Harlan – 1.1o”; Massena – 1.01″; Oakland – 1.00″;  Red Oak – 1.05″; Villisca – .83″; and in Clarinda, .82″.

Forecasters say more rain is expected this weekend, especially Saturday.

(Radio Iowa/rainfall amounts reported from various sources)