(Radio Iowa) – After last month turned out to be Iowa’s driest September on record, October’s shaping up to be just as dry and the drought conditions are worsening. The new map from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows the patches of severe drought are growing in both western Iowa and in the northeast, now covering more than seven percent of the state. A much larger section, 49-percent, is considered in moderate drought, and that stretches across the majority of Iowa’s northern half and much of the west. About 41-percent of the state is considered abnormally dry, while only about two-and-a-half percent has no moisture worries — at the moment at least — across a few counties in the southwest.

Graphic from the U.S. Drought Monitor

Forecasters say a cold front should start to arrive tonight (Friday) that will bring progressively colder temperatures over the next several days, with the first frost likely for Iowa next Tuesday. There are little to no chances for rain for at least another week.