Photo: U.S. Drought Monitor
(Undated) -- This week's U.S. Drought Monitor shows some improvement in the drought picture. All of Iowa and nearly all of Illinois remain abnormally dry or in some level of drought. Recent rains, however, have improved the severity of drought in some locations.
Counties along the Mississippi River are primarily in moderate drought. A large portion of northeast Iowa is in extreme drought, but just two counties (Benton and Tama) remain in exceptional drought, which is an improvement over last week.
The National Weather Service is predicting a dry and seasonably warm pattern through the weekend and quite possibly into early next week.