11-20 IAN Extreme Drought

 A meteorologist talks seriously about long term drought.  I am David Sparks...

Bryce Anderson has been DTN's ag meteorologist and fill-in market analyst since 1991. He combines his expertise in weather forecasting with his background in farming to bring in-depth, focused commentary on the top weather developments affecting agriculture each day.  Notwithstanding the threat of hurricanes and flooding such as was seen with Sandy along the eastern seaboard not long ago, Bryce is very concerned about a long term drought. Sadly, they usually highly moist Northwest may not be able to avoid drought. Here he is: “The circumstances that much of the country finds itself in now heading into the heart of the fall season and then looking ahead to winter are really quite extensively on the dry side.  When you look at the Western U.S. as judged by the drought monitor  which breaks at the Dakotas and Nebraska and then covers from Colorado and Wyoming all the way to the Northwest and your looking at over 90% drought of Western US.  In that area,  there is almost 77% moderate to  exceptional drought going on. It is a very dry scenario, obviously and then further eastward into the Midwest, there is so much going on this year  and the markets with the kind of drought we saw this year in the heart  of the Midwest,  Illinois and Indiana, west into Missouri and Iowa,  you have some improvement in the Eastern part of the corn belt, Illinois and Indiana but in Iowa there is still extensive extreme drought and then there is and then throughout an area from central South Dakota South into North Central Texas anywhere from extreme to exceptional drought.”