DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The recent wet weather has converted last year’s drought in Iowa to flooding across much of the state. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday says only about 2 percent of Iowa was experiencing moderate drought this week and 17 percent of the state was abnormally dry. But the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln uses data from Tuesday morning for its weekly updates.
Several rounds of storms have dumped rain on Iowa since then, so the remaining dryness in northwest Iowa may have already been eliminated. The restored soil moisture should help Iowa farmers if their crops haven’t been affected by this week’s flooding.