For some parts of the state, it has been a record-breaking week of rain, with some locations logging rain amounts that haven’t been seen for more than a century. State climatologist Justin Glisan says the new U-S Drought Monitor map for Iowa shows improving conditions, with fewer counties indicated as being abnormally dry or in drought.

The worst of the dry conditions, D-2 or severe drought, remain in central and north-central Iowa, with a small patch in the northwest.

October is wrapping up to be the wettest month of 2021, so far, and we’re heading into the driest months of the year. May is typically Iowa’s wettest month of the year while February is the driest.