Drought conditions lessened slightly in eastern Iowa last week, but 95% of the state remains abnormally dry. According to the National Weather Service, 14.68% of Iowa is in extreme drought, nearly 39% is in severe drought, and 72% is in moderate drought. State Climatologist Justin Glisan reminds people that the data cutoff for the information was 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning, so the precipitation we’ve received since then will be reflected on next week’s report.

He shares what the indicators are showing for the overall fall season, “Washington County looks like over the last several days anywhere from two to three inches. So, looking at the signals moving forward into fall our climate outlooks currently have us temperature-wise we’re seeing elevated signals for warmer than normal temperatures. On the precipitation side though we’re not getting a clear signal, it’s what we call EC or equal chance of above, below, or near average.”

At this time, all of Washington, Louisa, and Jefferson Counties are in moderate drought, along with most of Keokuk County and Johnson County. The western two-thirds of Iowa County are in severe drought. And the northern half of Henry County is in moderate drought with the southern half abnormally dry. Glisan said the state as a whole will need more steady rains to help alleviate drought conditions, but September looks to be dry, “If we look at September though as a month, the outlooks for precipitation have us elevated chances of drier than normal conditions. So, it looks like once we get out of this current wet period through the weekend we should move into a drier phase.”

Next week’s forecast for Washington calls for high temperatures in the low-80s with sunny skies and lows dipping down to the 50s in the overnight hours. Listen to KCII for weather updates.