Rainfall this month, including over an inch received last week has lessened the severity of drought conditions in northwest Iowa.
According to information released November 21 by the US Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, the only severe drought (D2) area is in the western portions of Sioux, Plymouth and Woodbury Counties. In fact, that is the only D2 area in the entire state.

O’Brien County and almost all of northern Iowa are experiencing D1 or moderate drought conditions as shown by the Drought Monitor. The week before much of the northwest corner of the state was shown to be in the severe drought area.
As of November 24, rainfall for the month in Sanborn totaled 2.97 inches.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is a map released every Thursday, showing where drought is and how bad it is across the U.S. and its territories. The map uses six classifications: normal conditions, abnormally dry (D0), showing areas that may be going into or are coming out of drought, and four levels of drought: moderate (D1), severe (D2), extreme (D3) and exceptional (D4).