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During the past 90 days, temperatures have been warmer than average, keeping soils from freezing and allowing much needed precipitation to infiltrate into the soil. Despite accumulated precipitation across the state being greater than average for the past 90 days, soil moisture is still lacking. Stream flow was below normal for most of the state during March into early April. Moisture is needed in many areas to continue replenishing groundwater and allowing for soil drainage after around 195 weeks of continued drought or dryness in the state.

The final April climatological outlooks issued by the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) show elevated chances of warmer than average temperatures. On the precipitation front, there is no clear signal for Iowa, as outlooks continues to show a moderate La Niña configuration with above average probabilities of dryness from the High Plains into the Desert Southwest. Iowa falls into the EC category. When EC is present, climatological behavior (or what is expected for the month) is favored slightly, at 34%; above or below average conditions each have a 33% probability of occurrence.

Spring has sprung! Preparations for planting across the state are in full swing. Conditions over the last 30 days have been unseasonably warm across the Midwest with positive departures of anywhere from two to four degrees. Early March had a good stretch of dry conditions; the second half of the month experienced a more active storm track in which rainfall (and some snow) fell every few days. With the recent wetness, the last thirty days were also wetter-than-normal.