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Sue Ogrocki / AP file
John Honeywell kicks up red dust in a dry field as he pulls a forty foot grain drill to plant winter wheat near Orlando, Okla., on Sept. 12, 2012. Nearly 60 percent of the contiguous US was in at least "moderate" drought as of November 13, according to Thursday's Drought Monitor.
A storm system that brought cold, wet weather to much of the United States last week helped ease drought in many states, but some areas that were most in need of moisture were missed, according to a climatology report issued on Thursday.
The High Plains, which includes key farm states of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Kansas, saw slight improvement last week due to good precipitation. But three quarters of both Kansas and Nebraska continued to suffer from extreme or exceptional drought.
In South Dakota, extreme or worse drought still covers nearly 55 percent of the state.
Roughly 58.83 percent of the contiguous United States was in at least "moderate" drought as of November 13, down from 59.48 percent a week earlier, according to Thursday's Drought Monitor, a weekly compilation of data gathered by federal and academic scientists.
The portion of the contiguous United States under "extreme" or "exceptional" drought - the two most dire classifications - improved to 18.30 percent from 19.36 percent.
The persistent drought has hindered growth of the new winter wheat crop in many U.S. Plains states. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week that wheat in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana has shown very poor emergence and is well behind the average pace.
Texas and Oklahoma, also key wheat growing states, continued to struggle with drought.
Overall, the new winter wheat crop is rated 36 percent good to excellent, below last year's rating at this time of 50 percent. Kansas wheat is rated 21 percent poor to very poor.
Wheat in Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, and Oklahoma is struggling with more than 30 percent of it in each of those states rated poor to very poor, according to USDA.
In Texas, the drought deepened as the state was largely missed by the rain storms that swept through the Plains and Midwest. In contrast, most of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and western Tennessee measured widespread "decent" precipitation, according to the Drought Monitor.
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Hey KnuckleDraggers what did you learn in school about the great depression and weather cycles. Apparently not much,,,,,,,,
I like how all this drought is happening to Red States.
Hope you also like the cost of your food next summer. It's Boeingville not Seattle because without them the ghetto would disappear.
I don't think people from Seattle have much to worry about. It's not called the Evergreen State for nothing you know. i used to own a little plot of land in that area and stuff grows like nowhere else. Even in the driest of summer it was still green.
It's all red states
The history of rain and drought is well known across the United States over the last couple hundred years. It is also known over the last few thousand years with proxies. Drought and floods happen! They are caused by the weather phenomenons of the Pacific Oscillation, the El Ninos, .... Before CO2 emissions could be measured the climate had changed with wild swings. Chicago had a mile thick glacier on top of it a mere 10K years ago. Liberal ignoramuses, like Al Gore the Whore, blame climate change on man when the climate over the last 2 Billion years changed without man. The mainstream news media also blames man! Heck, ,most news journalists have never taken math or science and can't evaluate a research report without help from a private school 7th grader. The US media has now overcome China in producing lies, innuendo, junk science, and corrupt positions! It may be time for the US to move to Chinese Communism. At least their media is more honest than Obama's.
The latest data analysis from over 3,000 weather stations around the world says the world hasn't warmed during the last 16 years.
The latest data analysis say that the earth is warming. Unlike you, I can quote a source:
From http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120618152733.htm :-
This is why it is called "Global Warming." Not "Global warming, snicker, snicker." Just "Global warming."
Better start at the top with Obama, admitted drug user who requires all prospective and current employees to not have used the same drugs he has!!! Obama bin Lying is the worse piece of crap to sit in office and you libs put him right back on the toilet!!! Time to flush him and the looney left!
Your bitterness is so sweet! I love your pain!
Every time I get tired of gloating over you miserable losers I read a comment like this and it becomes fun again. Suck it up, Darrell, you have at least four more years, then you can bitch about Hillary! ;-)
Darrell-1928840
Sorry Darrell, you must be really bad in arithmatic. Slept through the elections hey? The majority of voters chose Obama. So that must mean you want Mitt flushed?
This is the result of a combination of a natural climatic upswing and exacerbating effects of greenhouse gases. It's a dangerous combination.
I read a global warming model for the first time over THIRTY years ago. I can't remember if it was published in Time or Newsweek; but it predicted a lot of conditions we see now- widening extremes, more big storms, droughts, floods, and overall climbing of worldwide temperature averages. Melting of the polar ice caps and rising sea levels and temps were also predicted, but not to the extent that we're seeing today.
We're conducting a worldwide experiment with the climate. The thing is, not only do we not know the end result, we can't control it either!! Time for everyone to reduce, reuse, recycle. Big government and big business are going to do exactly squat until either one or both of these two conditions are met:'
A) it means their survival, PERSONALLY or
B) they can gain money or power from assisting
Common people can't stop global warming, but it's up to us to alleviate greenhouse gas emissions. Waiting for governments and businesses to do something is a fool's errand.
Climate change? BS these cycles have been happening for the past 2000 plus years. With any luck we will have another Ice Age and get rid of all mankind. I can hardly wait, when it comes no one will be blaming it on Democrats or Republicans because all will be DEAD!!!!!!!
you do not seem quite so 'happily' in your retirement
Maybe the next stray asteroid will slam into Al Gore's mansion, eliminating a very large carbon footprint!
Here's the forecast from a real scientist.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/bou/showimages/Mid-Nov_2012_Climate_Outlook_for_the_Central_US.pdf
the good news is that these proud, independent states and their farmers will not be looking for lots of federal monetary assistance... no way... they oppose big government and will not have their hands out for $$$... could never ever happen... cough
If it was not for these people you would starve.
A drought persists in the US Economy. Rainmaker Obama needs to get his administration to start dancing the jig.
Better watch Ken Burns film " THE DUST BOWL", maybe this is the start of another one or a more permanent situation !