The UK daily mail has this headline America burning: Drought devastating 26 states is the largest natural disaster area in U.S. history. Here is a picture of the weekly monitor of drought status across the US. In the history of the drought monitor product, this is the first time such a large area has been covered in drought.
Here’s my chart of how the area in drought has changed over time:
They say that drought is a creeping disaster. This was two years in the making, but has rapidly accelerated in just the past few weeks.
Today the USDA formally declares over 1,000 counties in 26 states as agricultural disaster areas. The map of those areas is here:
There is a video tour of a devastated Iowa corn field here.
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