DES MOINES, Iowa – Nearly a foot and a half more snow than normal fell in January, and now central Iowa is seeing some benefits: drought relief.

January ended with 1.91″ of rain, which is 0.83″ more than normal. OF course, much of that precipitation fell as snow. The January snow total for 2024 stands at 27.2″, which is 17.8″ more than normal.

For most of the last three months, over 95% of the state of Iowa has been in some form of drought. As recently as last week, nearly a quarter of the state was under extreme drought.

Finally, the state is seeing some relief, even if it’s slight. An area of extreme drought (D3) has been removed over central Iowa, leaving that area under severe drought (D2). Far southeast Iowa has also seen some relief, with most locations lowering a category in drought status.

A slight warmup in the last week of January led to a slow snow melt. This allowed at least some of the moisture to soak in and prevent much in the way of flooding or ice jams.

The next week looks dry overall, but there are some rain chances toward the end of next week, hopefully bringing more drought relief.