Historic drought worsens in Midwest; parched Plains in bad shape

By Michael Hirtzer with additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by John Picinich
4 Aug 2011 CHICAGO (Reuters) – Drought worsened in the Midwest during the last week as record-high temperatures stressed the developing corn and soybean crops, while cotton and pastures eroded amid a historic drought in the southern Plains. Nearly 38 percent of the Midwest was “abnormally dry” as of August 2, the climatologists said in a weekly report, the most since December 2008. Temperatures in the past week hit record highs from the Plains to the East Coast, in some cases rising above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) for the first time in more than 20 years. “Exceptional drought” decreased modestly in Texas, the epicenter of the worst drought in decades, where 73.5 percent of the state was suffering from that most severe category, according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, produced by a consortium of national climate experts. Nearly 45 percent of Iowa, the top corn and soybean growing state, was “abnormally dry” and roughly 19 percent of Indiana was now suffering from “moderate drought,” the report stated. “The Midwest’s problems were compounded by the fact that for some corn and soybeans, the heat wave coincided with the reproductive stage of development,” the report said. […] While the most severe drought lessened slightly in Texas, it worsened in neighboring Oklahoma where “exceptional drought” covered 64.3 percent of the state, up from 52.2 percent a week earlier. Wildfires were reported in Oklahoma while the U.S. Agriculture Department this week rated the state’s emerging cotton crop at 88 percent poor to very poor. […]

Drought worsens in Midwest; parched Plains in bad shape