At this time last week, the rain was already falling, and would continue to fall at times through Monday. Rain totals from August 19 and 20 stacked up to more than half a foot in a number of cities, including Omaha.
While the rain was too much and too fast for some areas, causing flash flooding, other counties were thrilled to see the rain.
In the latest drought monitor, released August 23, show the continuing improvement in the drought conditions across the region.
The Omaha metro remains drought-free, but it is the southern part of the region that continues to be too dry. Parts of northwest Missouri saw some rain, but not as much as Omaha, and remain in extreme drought.
Nebraska is now down to 4 percent of the state under abnormally dry conditions or higher drought levels, which is down from 9 percent before the recent heavy rain. Next door in Iowa, there was a slight drop from last week to 31 percent of the state under some level of drought. Most of that improvement came in southwest Iowa. Meanwhile, the drought expanded in other parts of the state, increasing the numbers from 3 months ago.
While still not perfect, and far from perfect in NW Missouri, we have seen huge improvements since the start of the year across Nebraska and Iowa.
