(Reuters) – The worst drought to hit the United States in a half century expanded in the upper Midwest and northern Plains states in the past week due to warmer- and drier-than-normal weather, but loosened its grip on some central and southern areas of the country. Nearly 65 percent of the contiguous United States were under at least “moderate” drought… Read more →
Nature’s not much for subtlety. Just ask Chris Tangey, who watched in awe as a 100-foot-high whirlwind of fire tore around a patch of Australian outback Tuesday Sept. 11. Tangey, a filmmaker, managed to capture some very rare footage of the startling phenomenon while out scouting locations near Alice Springs, Australia, according to The Australian. One term for the event he recorded,… Read more →
Global food prices have leapt by 10% in the month of July, raising fears of soaring prices for the planet’s poorest, the World Bank has warned. The bank said that a US heatwave and drought in parts of Eastern Europe were partly to blame for the rising costs. The price of key grains such as corn, wheat and soybean saw… Read more →
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Meteorologist Maria LaRosa has the last seasonal forecast previewing the fall and winter outlook. She also explains the how the drought may be improving for some parts of the country and getting worse in other areas.
Record-high corn prices should be sending a clear message to policy makers in Washington: Requiring people to put corn-based fuel in their gas tanks is a bad idea. Since 2005, the U.S. government has mandated that gasoline contain ethanol, almost all of it derived from corn. The policy, ostensibly aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil and at improving… Read more →
This Colorado farmer says it’s like starving to death in a grocery store. Weld County, Colorado farmers lost surface irrigation water from rivers because of drought, but they can’t pump groundwater because of a 2006 court decision. Discovered on The Weather Channel
Campaigning in Missouri Valley, Iowa, yesterday, President Obama announced yet another government spending program — this time designed to inflate meat prices in Midwest swing states. “Today the Department of Agriculture announced that it will buy up to $100 million worth of pork products, $50 million worth of chicken, and $20 million worth of lamb and farm-raised catfish,” Obama explained… Read more →
Record breaking arid weather causes the Mississippi River to shrink.
(CNN) – The July heat wave that wilted crops, shriveled rivers and fueled wildfires officially went into the books Wednesday as the hottest single month on record for the continental United States. The average temperature across the Lower 48 was 77.6 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.3 degrees above the 20th-century average, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration reported. That edged out the previous… Read more →
