ST. LOUIS (AP) – Some key farm states punished by the nation’s worst drought in decades benefited slightly from recent rains, with a bigger dousing forecast from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac.

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday shows that the section of the continental U.S. in the worst two categories of drought – extreme and exceptional – remained relatively unchanged at 23.2 percent as of the report’s Tuesday cutoff.

The amount of Iowa in the two worst drought classifications fell by 9 percentage points to 58.3 percent. Illinois saw a 7 percentage point drop-off while Kansas’ numbers slid 6 points. Ninety percent of Kansas remains in extreme or exceptional drought.

Forecasters expect portions of the Midwest to get several inches of rain from what was Hurricane Isaac. It’s now a tropical depression.