ISU agronomist not overly concerned by area lack of snow so far

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com and Bob Fenske, editor@nhtrib.com

With the temperatures in the 40s, 50s and even 60s for much of this week, it’s not an exaggeration to call the weather unusual.

Charles City set a new record high for Thursday, Jan. 30, with 62 degrees, eclipsing the previous mark of 49 in 1931, according to the National Weather Service. High temperatures were forecast to remain in the 30s and 40s for the next several says.

In addition to higher-than-normal temperatures in the last several days, it has been dryer than usual. Since August the area has received several inches less precipitation than normal – a total of 10.36 inches, compared to the normal average precipitation over that period of 13.8 inches.

That’s not that far off, except that almost none of that has fallen as snow.

In November 2024, Charles City received more than twice the usual amount of precipitation, but all than a trace of it fell as rain, during a month that would usually see at least a couple inches of snow.

December, likewise, was wetter than usual, receiving more than 1½ inches of total precipitation, but less than 4 inches as snow, in a month that usually sees about 8 inches.

Some snowflakes fell on almost half of the days in January, but added up to only an unmeasurable trace amount each time. In a month that usually sees around 8½ inches of snow, Charles City has seen almost none in January.

Despite again being behind in total moisture including snow, ISU Extension agronomist Terry Basol said it isn’t even close to panic time.

Most of the snow received each winter runs off rather than being absorbed into the ground, anyway, he said.

“We don’t get a lot of benefit for soil moisture profiles,” said Basol, who is based at the Northeast Iowa Research Farm just outside of Nashua. “I’m not saying it’s not dry out there, but what we really need is some decent spring rains once the frost is out of the ground.”

Basol said he’s more worried about the lack of snow for a different reason.

“A lot of snow runoff goes to the rivers,” he said, “and all the rivers around here, they obviously make their way to the Mississippi in some way or another. The concern to me is how lower river levels, especially on the Mississippi, will affect barge traffic.”

But he emphasized that there’s still plenty of time for the weather to return to a more normal pattern.

“We’ve lived here long enough to know that we can get a lot of snow in February and March. And if we get some timely rains in the spring, we can still start off the growing season in good condition.”

In its weekly report issued Thursday, Jan. 30, the U.S. Drought Monitor showed much of the state, including Floyd and southwest Chickasaw counties, in the D1 – “moderate drought” category.

Other areas of Iowa were listed as “abnormally dry” or no drought, except for a small area in Sioux, Plymouth and a tiny section of Woodberry counties on the western edge of Iowa that are listed as D2 – “severe drought.”

But the overall drought picture in Iowa has actually improved since late October, when 83.3 percent of the state was experiencing drought conditions. The latest report showed that 57.1 percent of the state is still in drought but almost all of those affected areas are experiencing what the U.S. Drought Monitor calls “moderate” conditions.

“We are in a better situation today than we were a year ago at this time,” Basol said. “We’re not obviously planting tomorrow, so we just need to be patient and hope for the best this spring. That’s when it’s really going to matter.”