SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — It is April, and normally that means April showers, right? Not so much in Siouxland for this April. Through the first 13 days of April, Sioux Gateway Airport has only seen .1″ of an inch of precipitation, and by now we should see about an inch an a half of precipitation.

The drought monitor, which updates every Thursday, shows most of northeast Nebraska, stretching into Sioux City, and along I-29 south of US-20 showing extreme to exceptional drought, where most of the rest of Siouxland, including northwest Iowa, and southeast South Dakota, are under severe drought. All of Siouxland would need a lot of rain to catch up our drought conditions. Can we expect some rain anytime soon?

Siouxland should see some showers and thunderstorms come through the region Friday night and throughout the day on Saturday, where most areas will probably end up with around a quarter to half an inch of rain. However, some places that do see some stronger thunderstorms, could receive an inch of rain or even more. The areas that have the highest chance of seeing some heavier rain, is the southeastern part of the KCAU 9 coverage area. These areas have a marginal risk of severe weather. This would not really be enough though to put a dent in the drought deficit. Brief gusty winds or large hail is possible, however if we saw any severe weather, it would be isolated.

Another system looks to take shape across Siouxland middle of next week, and some models are showing we could see a good amount of rain. It is too early to give exact amounts, but the KCAU 9 weather team will continue to monitor this as it gets closer, with the track, amounts, and if any severe weather is expected.