Precipitation has been difficult to come by for much of Iowa this summer. The just released US Drought Monitor update had significant deterioration, specifically over southern Iowa. Summer in Iowa tends to either feast of famine for precipitation as both extremes tend to increase their respective extremity with dry conditions limiting moisture and thus storms, with the opposite situation having the opposite effect of more storms increasing moisture and increasing future storm chances. An illustration of this feast of famine can be found with the featured chart plotting summer season (Jun-Aug) precipitation for Ames. This year continues the past three years being below average. The long term linear fit trend is upward, but the fit is not statistically strong and being pulled upward by the wet years of 1993 and 2010.

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Tags:   summer