Drought

Drought Conditions - USA - Update

California drought worsens - Farmers say this year's agricultural water supply has been squeezed dry - wells are going empty, major reservoirs are at a fraction of historic storage levels.

Drought conditions have worsened across parts of the Midwest in the last week, including in the nation's leading corn-producing state as Iowa cooked in record breaking temperatures that topped 100 degrees. Farmers in Iowa and other neighbouring states are now expecting this year's drought to reduce the fall harvest for corn and soybeans, though the impact isn't expected to be as bad as last year's drought — the worst since the 1950s.

About 98 percent of Iowa is in some level of drought. That's down slightly from the week before, but the area of the state in severe drought expanded to 32 percent from 22 percent from the previous week. The corn was in good shape up until about three weeks ago, before the heat set in, and no significant rain has fallen in much of the area for a nearly month. Soybeans are a big worry now. Plants are shorter than normal and haven't had enough moisture to fully develop.

The weekly drought monitor released Thursday tracked conditions from Aug. 27 through Tuesday morning. It shows little change nationwide: Nearly 62 percent of the contiguous states are in drought, about the same as the week before. But the portion of the U.S. corn production area in drought increased to 52 percent from 45 percent. Soybeans in drought also increased in the last week to 42 percent from 38 percent. Hay in drought was unchanged at 39 percent, but cattle in drought increased one percentage point to 53 percent.

The extreme heat in the Midwest and near record-low August rainfall combined to expand drought conditions from the eastern Dakotas southeastward into western Illinois. Small areas of severe drought also showed up in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin this week. Drought also expanded or intensified in Mississippi and Oklahoma. No changes were made in Nebraska and Kansas, except for a small improvement in extreme sections of southeast Nebraska, northeast Kansas, southwest Iowa, and northwest Missouri, where some rain fell.

Moderate drought and heat threaten Missouri soybeans - Farmers across mid-Missouri have seen completely different sides of Mother Nature this year. The summer started with heavy rain.

Texas - Drought drying up water supply in lakeside communities. The Governor's proclamation said the drought poses an imminent threat of disaster in every county in Central Texas.

Drought conditions return for all of Hawaii - Every county in the state is now back under some level of drought conditions and looking at forecasts it could stay that way for awhile.