8-7 FB Drought Severe

 More information on the drought that is effecting our entire nation, and of course agricultural producers are the hardest hit of all.

 Over the last couple of weeks, I have been smelling smoke. Whether it’s on the golf course, on the way to work or just being out and around. The source of the smoke is wildfires caused by drought conditions. Yesterday, I had a conversation with Gov. Otter about the effects of the drought on Idaho. Now, USDA Meteorologist Brady Rippey says if you had to invent a map with the worst possible scenario for U.S. producers - you probably couldn’t draw a better depiction than what’s on the U.S. Drought Monitor right now. There’s only been a one-percent expansion of the drought  recently - according to the USDA - but conditions are getting worse in areas affected. Eighty-nine-percent of the corn area is in some type of drought - but Rippey says the coverage in extreme to exceptional drought surged: “We have not seen a dramatic change in the overall coverage of drought in the United States. Overall, we saw the number inching up to 64% which means almost 2/3 of the United States is in drought. What we are saying is a dramatic increase in the coverage of some of the higher and drought categories. The severe, the extreme, the exceptional... now we see 46% of the nation in the D2,3 and 4 categories... that is the severe, extreme, exceptional and 21% in extreme to exceptional drought and those represent fairly significant increases.”