(Radio Iowa) – Iowa has been vexed by too much water — or not enough — this year, leading to natural disasters in multiple counties for flooding and for drought. The federal government is now offering low-interest loans to help Iowa businesses and non-profits recover. Kevin Wynne (WIN), spokesman for the U-S Small Business Administration, says they’re working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid non-profits in seven eastern Iowa counties that were hit by Mississippi River flooding between April 24th and May 13th, which prompted a federal disaster declaration. “They may be eligible for a FEMA Disaster Assistance Grant,” Wynne says, “so they’ll go to what’s called an applicant briefing and then they’ll come back to SBA if FEMA determines that they are not a critical service, meaning that they’re not a food kitchen or something along those lines, or a hospital or some kind of public infrastructure that supports a community.”

The low-interest federal disaster loans are now available in Allamakee, Clayton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Lee and Scott counties. “The loans can go up to $2 million to meet the financial obligations and operating expenses and it’s got about a one year deferral on these as well,” Wynne says. “Low interest rate of 2.375% for the private nonprofits, and of course the businesses have it at 4%. Terms up to 30 years, makes recovery very affordable for these loans.”

The S-B-A loans can be used to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other assets. They can also be used to pay for improvements to protect, prevent or minimize the same type of disaster damage from happening again. “These loans are for economic injury only,” Wynne says. “That means that they didn’t suffer any physical damage but they’re starting to see a decrease in revenues due to the fact that there was a declared disaster in those counties.”

The S-B-A is also offering low-interest loans to small, non-farm businesses in 18 Iowa counties that are being worst-hit by drought. “Businesses in farming towns are going to start seeing a decrease in revenue because farmers are unable to have any disposable income to go and shop in those cities and small towns,” Wynne says. “That’s why we offer these low-interest Disaster Assistance loans to these counties that were economically impacted by the drought.”

The counties covered under this program are: Cedar, Clarke, Decatur, Jasper, Johnson, Louisa, Lucas, Madison, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Muscatine, Polk, Ringgold, Scott, Union, Warren, and Wayne. “Those loans are also up to $2 million,” Wynne says. “They have to be used to do any kind of keeping the business afloat such as making payroll, making your rental expenses, keeping the lights on and getting your notes payable paid, just so that they can keep the operating expenses of the economically-impacted business through the disaster recovery periods.”

For information on any of the loans, call 800-659-2955 or visit SBA-dot-gov and follow the “Disaster” link.

Today: Sunny, with a high near 88. South wind 10 to 20 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 62. South wind 5-15 w/gusts to near 20 mph.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 94. South southwest wind 10-20 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 65. S @ 10-25.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 95. S/SW @ 10-20mph.
Labor Day: Sunny, with a high near 94. Breezy.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Breezy.

Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 81 and this morning’s low 59. This day last year the high was 79 and the low 63. The record high for Sept. 1st in Atlantic was 99 set in 1913 and the record low was 34 degrees set in 1967. Sunrise is at 6:45 am and sunset is at 7:53 pm.

(UPDATED) – The latest Iowa Drought Monitor shows drought conditions have worsened. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says there’s been an 18 percent increase in extreme drought conditions since last week’s report. “The big standout that we see on the map this week is a big expansion of that D3 extreme drought category across north central into northeastern Iowa,” Glisan says. There’s a persistent area of extreme drought in southeast Iowa as well. Some farmers have begun chopping corn for silage because most leaves on the stalks have died. “Corn is drying up out there. Soybeans are dropping pods because of the heat and the dryness,” Glisan says. “Harvest is going to come at us fast given the drier conditions and the warmer temperatures that we’ve seen.”

Small sections of Fremont and Ringgold Counties are the only areas of Iowa considered to be drought-free and Glisan says nearly 99-and-a-half percent of the entire state is now in some level of drought. The U-S-D-A began issuing Drought Monitor reports 23 years ago. “This is going into the 166th week of at least D1, that moderate drought category somewhere in the state, so the longest drought that we’ve had since the Drought Monitor came into inception,” Glisan says, “but also longer term than the 1988 and 2012 droughts.” Those two drought years were more intense because of particularly warm temperatures in the upper Midwest, according to Glisan. Glisan says the statewide average rainfall is about three and a quarter inches in August — about an inch below normal, but Glisan says there’s wide variation in sections of the state.

“If you look at the climate divisions in eastern Iowa, so climate division 3 is the northeastern corner and then east central is where the nose of Iowa is — it’s the top 10 driest August on record,” Glisan says, “so that statewide average is skewed where we see higher precipitation totals across the southern part of the state.” The southern two tiers of Iowa got an average amount of rainfall during the past month. On this last day of August, there is no rain in the forecast anywhere in Iowa.

In southwest Iowa:

Parts of northern and eastern Pottawattamie County, all but the northeastern part of Cass County, along with the southern half of Adair County, most of Adams, and all of Union Counties, are considered Abnormally Dry.

Severe drought conditions exist in mainly the western half of Pott. County and the northern tier of Mills County, while other area counties are seeing a variety of Moderate to Abnormally dry conditions.

Extreme drought conditions are being experienced in a large portion of northeastern Iowa, and parts of seven southeastern Iowa counties.

Today: Sunny, with a high near 82. South southeast wind 8 to 13 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 58. South southeast wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 87. South wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 63. Breezy, with a south wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 92. Breezy.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 92. Breezy.

Wednesday’s high was 85 and this morning’s low 57. This day last year the high was 86 and the low 51. The record high for August 31st in Atlantic was 101 set in 1913 and the record low was 35 degrees set in 1967. This morning’s sunrise is at 6:44 am and tonight’s sunset is at 7:55 pm.

(Radio Iowa) – Smoke from the Canadian wildfires is showing up over of Iowa again. National Weather Service Meteorologist Dylan Dodson, says it’s most notable in one area.

Dodson says things are different from July when the smoke was clearly visible across the state and made an impact on the sunset and sunrise.

The D-N-R Air Quality monitor is not showing any air that is at the unhealthy level in the state. The air is reported at the moderate level for two-thirds of the state, which is a level below healthy. The forecast is still showing that hot weather will be more of a concern this weekend than the smoke.

Lower dewpoints mean the “feels like” temperature is lower. Dodson says the actual air temperature is something to take note of.

One thing that is still not in the forecast is precipitation, as Dodson says it remain dry into next week.

Today:  Widespread haze before 10:00 am, then widespread haze after noon.  Mostly sunny, with a high near 85.  South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight:  Widespread haze.  Partly cloudy, with a low around 60.  South southeast wind at 10 mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph.
Thursday:  Mostly sunny, with a high near 84.  Breezy, with a south wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
Friday:  Sunny, with a high near 90.  Breezy, with a south wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Saturday:  Sunny, with a high near 96.  Breezy, with a south wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
Sunday:  Sunny and hot, with a high near 97.  South wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tuesday’s high was 86 and this morning’s low 56.  This day last year the high was 83 and the low 50.  The record high for August 30 in Atlantic is 101 set in 1947 and the record low is 33 degrees set in 1893.  This morning’s sunrise is at 6:43 am and tonight’s sunset is at 7:57 pm.

Today:  Widespread haze after 4:00 pm.  Mostly sunny, with a high near 86.  North northwest wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph.
Tonight:  Widespread haze after 2:00 am.  Areas of smoke before 2:00 am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 55.
Wednesday:  Widespread haze before 5:00 pm Mostly sunny, with a high near 85.  South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday:  Sunny, with a high near 85.  South wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Friday:  Sunny, with a high near 90.  Breezy, with a south wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Monday’s high was 84.  This morning’s low 55.  This day last year the high was 84 and the low 52.  The record high for this date is 102 degrees set in 1894 and the record low of 34 was set in 1893.  Sunrise this morning at 6:42 am and this evening’s sunset will be at 7:58 pm.

Today:  A slight chance of sprinkles after 5:00 pm. Mostly sunny with a high near 88.  South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west southwest in the afternoon.  Winds could gust as high as 15 mph.
Tonight:  Mostly clear with a low around 58.  North wind 5 mph.
Tuesday:  Mostly sunny with widespread haze after 2:00 pm and a high near 85.  North wind 5 to 10mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph.
Wednesday:  Sunny with a high near 84.  South southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday:  Sunny with a high near 87.  South wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Sunday’s high was 82 degrees, this morning’s low 54.  This day last year the high was 86 and the low 65.  The record high for this date is 100 degrees set in 1984 and the record low is 35 set in 1967.  Sunrise this morning will be at 6:41 am and sunset tonight is at 8:00 pm.

Today:  Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. North northeast wind around 9 mph, with gusts as high as 16 mph.
Tonight:  Patchy fog after 4am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 54. East northeast wind 6 to 8 mph.
Sunday:  Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 82. East wind around 5 mph.
Sunday Night:  Mostly clear, with a low around 59. South southeast wind 3 to 7 mph.
Monday:  Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. South wind 8 to 11 mph becoming west northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph.
Monday Night:  Mostly clear, with a low around 58. North wind 7 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
Tuesday:  Sunny, with a high near 84. North wind 7 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Friday’s high was 92 and this morning’s low is 69.  This day last year the high was 81 and the low 58,  The record high is 100 set in 1955.  The record low is 39 set in 1904.  Sunrise Saturday is at 6:39 am and sunset this evening is at 8:03 pm.

That excessive heat warning is still posted for a fifth consecutive day for 28 counties in southern Iowa until 7 o’clock tonight (Friday), and while the rest of the state is no longer under the warning, it’ll still be hot — just not as hot as it’s been all week. Meteorologist Alexis Jimenez (hah-MEN-ez), with the National Weather Service, says the extreme heat wave is finally cooling off, though it’ll be gradual.

Parts of northern Iowa saw showers and scattered thunderstorms this morning, though the rain won’t be widespread. By tomorrow, Jimenez says temperatures should be closer to normal for Iowa in late August.

Forecasters say some areas of the state may see highs a few days next week only in the 70s. That’s a big change from this week, as multiple records were set in triple-digits, including 105 degrees in Waterloo on Wednesday, and a heat index of 122 degrees in Sioux City on Monday.