The last half of March and April is an important time for rainfed agriculture to replenish soil moisture reserves prior to the start of the growing season. The featured map checks in on how things are going so far this year for Iowa by plotting PRISM precipitation departures from average so far this year. About the southeastern third of the state has fared the best so far with far northern Iowa showing the largest below average values. Drought continues to be a significant concern and while some precipitation is forecast to fall this week, amounts do not appear to be much higher than climatology.

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