It’s been hot and dry in western Iowa all summer long, and it looks like it will probably stay that way.  Freese-Notis Meteorologist Dan Hicks spoke with Jim Field on KJAN’s Heartbeat Today Wednesday, as he assessed the extreme conditions across the Midwest.

He says the situation is getting serious with the lack of rainfall and high temperatures.  “There really is nobody in the Midwest that doesn’t need rain.  Looking at Iowa rainfall for July, many towns have seen less than a quarter of their normal rainfall,” according to Hicks.

He also says it doesn’t look promising in terms of getting any relief from the drought conditions. “Unfortunately not a lot of promise for rainfall in the near future.  It looks like this overall pattern will probably continue into early next week.  There might be some slight cooling moving south very late this week, but temps in the Atlantic area will still be above 90 degrees.  It might even be next week until we have another chance of any rainfall occurring.”

As for what may be the cause of the extreme weather we’ve had this summer, he says, “I don’t know if there’s one thing responsible.  It’s been attributed to the transition from La Nina to neutral conditions.  But to attribute to one single factor is hard to do.”

Hicks says he expects highs to remain in the 90’s through at least next week.

A Harlan man was charged with illegal hand fishing after showing his catch in the local newspaper. Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson reports.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says 48-year-old Larry Finstad was charged with illegally catching a catfish using his hand in the technique that’s know as “noodling.” The D-N-R says someone called in to the poachers hotline after seeing an article in the Harlan Tribune featuring Finstad holding a 30-pound flathead catfish that he admitted he caught by hand in the Nishnabotna River. Finstad was charged at the Shelby County Jail where he was locked up after being arrested earlier for possession of burglary tools. It’s the second recent arrest here for the sport which is featured in some T-V shows, but is illegal in the state. D-N-R conservation officers charged four men with illegal hand fishing in June after watching them catch several catfish by hand in the Des Moines River near Selma. The D-N-R confiscated 174 pounds of catfish fillets at the home of one of the men.