Roughly six of every ten acres of land in the U.S. is in some level of drought. The Weekly Drought Monitor says arid conditions now stretch from the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the Pacific Coast in the western U.S. Conditions grew worse in the Ohio Valley while warm weather combined with below-normal precipitation to further dry the Midwest.
The University of Nebraska’s National Drought Mitigation Center says the extent of the dry conditions is on par with 2012 as drought expanded across more than half of the states, particularly in the Midwest and Southeast. Drought also deepened in the Central Plains, where stock ponds for cattle remain low to nonexistent.
Pastures are providing marginal feed, and most producers have to supplement their cattle feed. While the growing season for field crops is done, drought still affects the winter wheat crop, which makes up most of America’s wheat production.
