(Radio Iowa) – State Climatologist Justin Glisan says the drought-busting rains of July pushed the month to near the very top of the state record book

He says it will be a July many people will remember for the big storms.

He says we were another big rain event away from the July record.

Glisan says the early dry months of the year kept 2025 from being another flood year like 1993.

July was the second wettest on record behind 1993. (RI photo)

Glisan says there were two main sources of moisture that led to ample July rain.

Glisan says he gets asked a lot about the so-called “corn sweat” where moisture comes off the 13 million acres of corn in Iowa. He says it is another source of water that leads to rain.

Glisan says the heat dome that set up around the third week of July led to heat indexes in the triple digits, but not record heat.

Glisan says that heat did spawn storms, including the derecho that barreled across the state.