The drought of 2012 for Iowa will certainly go down as one of the more extreme on record. Since most people can remember the drought of 1988, comparisons continue to be made to that year with many wondering which year was more severe. While there is no correct answer, the featured chart provides two metrics for comparison. The x-axis presents the accumulated, from 10 August back to the given date, precipitation departure for both this year and 1988. For the period since 1 January, 1988 had the least amount of precipitation since 1893. The two lines show that 1988's drought started much earlier in the year than 2012, but the intensity of the drought during the growing season has been slightly worse (for this period) in 2012. The chart also shows you how much precipitation we would need to erase a given deficit over some period. For example, at least ~8 inches are needed in order to erase the deficit since 1 May.

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Tags:   2012   1988