Drought monitor map shows conditions have worsened in Iowa and N - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows conditions have worsened in the Corn Belt states of Iowa and Nebraska.  The map shows extreme drought has spread further into the western half of Iowa and covers all but a small section of southeast Nebraska, where severe drought is occurring.  The amount of Iowa in extreme or exceptional drought more than doubled, rising from 30.74 percent last week to 69.14 percent as of Tuesday.

A few counties in central Nebraska are still listed as being under exceptional drought conditions.

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map is a project shared by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Weather Service. The latest map is based on conditions as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, so it doesn't reflect rainfall from storms that passed through parts of both states later Tuesday and on Wednesday.

The drought map released Thursday shows that the amount of the contiguous U.S. mired in drought conditions dropped a little more than 1 percent, to 78.14 percent. But the expanse still gripped by extreme or exceptional drought rose nearly 2 percent to 24.14 percent.

That's because key farm states didn't get as much benefit from rains as elsewhere.