ST. LOUIS (AP) — Some key farm states punished by the nation's worst drought in decades caught a break with several inches of rainfall from Hurricane Isaac's remnants as other parts of the Midwest weren't as lucky.
The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map shows that the section of the continental U.S. in the worst two categories of drought — extreme and exceptional — dipped slightly to 21.45 percent, down 1.7 percentage points from last week.
Stretches of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana got some relief, with as much as 6 inches of rain left behind by slow-moving Isaac easing some of the drought conditions in those states.
But as the nation's biggest corn producer, Iowa for the most missed out on the needed moisture. Portions of that state's northwest portion slipped into exceptional drought.
