Tuesday (11.05) marked the first time in over a month that there were no active burns in north central and/or northeast Iowa.
Floyd County’s burn ban was the final area county to lift their burn ban, which officially ceased at 10 am Monday (11.04). The burn ban went into effect at noon on October 1st, but recent rains have allowed the ban to be deactivated. According to the National Weather Service (NWS) in La Crosse, Charles City received just over 2.5 inches between last Wednesday (10.30) and Monday morning.
Fayette County’s burn ban was lifted Saturday (11.02) morning, where the NWS indicated Fayette received over 4 inches and Oelwein over two inches of rain from last Wednesday to Monday.
The burn ban in Chickasaw County was lifted at noon last Friday (11.01), after it went into effect October 1st. NWS says New Hampton received just over three inches between Wednesday and Monday.
Other rainfall totals for the same period included around two inches for Osage, St. Ansgar and Nashua, plus 3.25 inches at Decorah.
At one time in October, 61 of Iowa’s 99 counties were under burn bans due to increasingly dry conditions. That also included Worth, Clayton, Buchanan, Cerro Gordo, Butler, Winneshiek, Franklin, Howard, Bremer, Hancock, Grundy, Wright, and Hardin counties.
