Drought conditions persist across Washington County and southeast Iowa as the calendar turns to December, according to the latest statistics issued by US Drought Monitor. In the report issued with data through November 22nd, all of Washington County was not only abnormally dry, but experiencing moderate drought, with 83% of the county under severe drought status. Only areas of the county near Wellman and east of Highway 218 were listed as less severe.
Around the rest of southeast Iowa, the whole of Jefferson County is in severe drought, 42% of Keokuk County, nearly the southeast half, is in severe drought, the rest is moderate, 31% of Henry County, in the northwest corner, is in severe drought, the rest is moderate, 19% of Johnson County, the southern portion is severe drought with 62%, the central portion of the county moderate and the remaining northern 19% abnormally dry. The western third of Louisa County is in moderate drought with the rest abnormally dry and 96% of Iowa County is in moderate drought with the extreme northeast corner abnormally dry.
After a cold front swept into the area Tuesday into Wednesday causing wind chills to fall into the single digits, the forecast calls for dry weather and normal temperatures into early next week. Our next chance of precipitation in the forecast is Monday into Tuesday of next week with a half inch of a wintry mix possible. Stay tuned to KCII for weather updates.