Heat advisories and record-breaking hot days have made for an uncomfortable end of August 2013. Some counties in the Quad Cities are seeing the second moderate drought of the year. According to the archives of the U.S. Drought Monitor, the Quad City area saw a drought from January through early-March.
Counties in the southwestern Quad Cities are officially in a moderate drought as of Tuesday, August 27, 2013 and counties more in the north-eastern region of the Quad Cities are abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The areas labeled abnormally dry in Iowa are Clinton and Jones Counties, northeastern Scott County, and the northeast corner of Cedar County. Johnson, most of Cedar County, half of Scott County, and the counties south of those are in a moderate drought, according to Iowa’s U.S. Drought Monitor.
Mercer County, Knox County, the southwestern half of Rock Island County, and counties to their south are experiencing moderate droughts in Illinois. Northeast Rock Island County, northeast Henry County, all of Whiteside County, Bureau County, and the counties surrounding them to the northeast are considered abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor in Illinois.
According to the National Weather Service, on Wednesday, August 28 a record-high temperature was set in Moline, Illinois and another tied in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Both were set shortly before 4:30 p.m. Temperatures reached 97 degrees, beating the previous record of 96 degrees, set in 1953. Cedar Rapids heat got up to 96 degrees, tying a record set in 1955.
Ironically, just one month prior, on July 28, a record low was set in Dubuque, Iowa of 50 degrees; it beat the previous record of 51 degrees set in 2005.
