U.S. Drought Reaches Epidemic Proportion

According to a monthly drought report published by Asheville, N.C.-based National Climactic Data Center, 55 percent of the U.S. is now covered by drought as of end of June 2012, rivaling the acute conditions in 1950s and Dust Bowl era of 1930s. The report released on July 16, 2012 depicted a picture a despair and desolation in many parts of West, the Great Plains and the Midwest, fueled by the 14th-warmest and 10th-driest June on record. Fifty-five percent marked the worst drought since December 1956, when 58 percent of the country was afflicted by drought. The July 16, 2012, report was based on the data going back to 1895, and the report is called the Palmer Drought Index. The Palmer Drought Index is used to compare data prior to 2000 as the weekly Drought Monitor goes back only 12 years. The climatologists labeled this year's drought spell as a Flash Drought. This year's drought has already dealt a severe blow to the nation's farmers, who have sowed a record 96.4 million acres in corn, the most since 1937. The Department of Agriculture initially estimated that this year's yield would be 166 bushels per acre, but recently reduced the estimate to 146 bushels per acre. Still, it is better than the average yield a decade ago, 129 bushels per acre.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak on August 1, 2012 added 218 counties to the list of primary disaster areas because of severe drought across the country. The addition brought more than half of the U.S. counties--1584 in 32 states--to the designation of PDA.