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  • July 16, 2012 | 2:46 PM ET

    2012 DROUGHT ONE OF THE WORST IN HISTORY

    Hi everyone!

    Back from a fun stay-cation!   We just took it easy and played in our backyard pool everyday.  No stress, and didn’t cost much!  (Except the one visit to Toys R us!  HA!)

    Today’s big story across the country is the drought.  The National Climatic Data Center has released its report, and the news is not good.    We are into the 10th largest drought over the past century,  and sixth highest since 1956.  Here are some of the highlights from the report:

    And the current drought across the U.S.  80 percent of the lower 48 states are abnormally dry.  You never want to “wish” for a tropical storm, or hurricane, but in this case, it would certainly help.  Last month’s tropical storm Debby helped Florida with its drought situation:

    The drought gripping the United States is the widest since 1956, according to new data released Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    Fifty-five percent of the continental U.S. was in a moderate to extreme drought by the end of June, NOAA’s National Climactic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., said in its monthly State of the Climate drought report. That’s the largest percentage since December 1956, when 58 percent of the country was covered by drought.

    This summer, 80 percent of the U.S. is abnormally dry, and the report said the drought expanded in the West, Great Plains and Midwest last month with the 14th warmest and 10th driest June on record.

    The nation’s corn and soybean belt has been especially hard hit over the past three months, the report said. That region has experienced its seventh warmest and 10th driest April-to-June period.

    “Topsoil has dried out and crops, pastures and rangeland have deteriorated at a rate rarely seen in the last 18 years,” the report said.

    The report is based on a data set going back to 1895 called the Palmer Drought Index, which feeds into the widely watched and more detailed U.S. Drought Monitor. It reported last week that 61 percent of the continental U.S. was in a moderate to exceptional drought. However, the weekly Drought Monitor goes back only 12 years, so climatologists use the Palmer Drought Index for comparing droughts before 2000.

    In southern Illinois’ Effingham County, Kenny Brummer is facing a double whammy — the drought has savaged the 800 acres of corn he grows for his 400 head of cattle and some 30,000 hogs, leaving him scrambling to find the couple of hundred thousand bushels of feed he’ll need.

    “Where am I going to get that from? You have concerns about it every morning when you wake up,” Brummer, 59, said Monday. “The drought is bad, but that’s just half of the problem on this farm.”

    ——

    The other big topic of discussion is the heat which is once again baking a large chunk of the country.  Today and tomorrow will be the worst – by Wednesday temperatures will drop a few degrees.

    Hope you are all doing well.    As much as I love work, it was hard leaving my boys this morning after being home for a few days…I wish I could come up with a way to do weather from my basement at home!    Hmmm…portable green screen…camera…weather computer….I bet one day it will be possible!

    Talk to you all soon!

    P.S: my spell check is not working on the blog, so if you see a typo, forgive me!  :)

    JD

    Janice Dean
    Meteorologist

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John Remillard

How come the Weather Map only displays the Northeast region of the United States? I have entered western zip codes, used other browsers, and tried on other computers and the Weather Map only displays the Northeast!

July 22, 2012 at 9:17 am

A.J. De Young

Hi everyone, Margie glad to see your Mom is improving but hope she gets back home with your Dad real soon, for real this time you are on countdown with your treatments and hopefully you won't be as tired and just consentrate on everyday becoming stronger..sorry you all are having such high temps, I whine when it hits 80 so I know it must get so tiring facing those 100's every day. JD glad you had a great staycation with your guys and increased the toy inventory.AJ

July 18, 2012 at 10:45 am

Margie Gacki

Good morning, everyone. At 9:20 it's already up to 87 with a heat index around 90. We got up to 99 yesterday. I don't know what the highest heat index was yesterday but it was in the 100+ range. I have 6 more radiation treatments to go. It's almost over! My mom is at the nursing home now so she's a lot closer to my dad. Hopefully things will settle down a little because I am really tired & I need to rest. I hope everyone has a great day! Margie

July 18, 2012 at 9:25 am

DoninRichmond

At 6:50 pm it is 100 here. Tomorrow we expect to set a new heat record for the day

July 17, 2012 at 6:49 pm

Gwen

Hi guys! Hope all's well with our blogging family. Margie, sounds like good news on your Mom's health issues. Being up and about is a good sign! Praying that she continues to improve. JB, we're actually a little ahead on our rainfall amounts for the year. We had 6 inches of rain last week! It was lovely! Last year was a dry one for us, so our rains this year have really been appreciated. Wish we could send some to the Midwest. Y'all have a great rest of the day! Gwen :)

July 17, 2012 at 4:08 pm

Audrey from Indiana

Hi J.D. and bloggers: I'm back from Atlanta after spending the week-end attending my granddaughter's wedding. Everything was lovely. My son decided to have a kidney stone shortly after we arrived. He is doing much better. Our weather is nasty HOT..100 today. We're staying in and enjoying the A/C. J.D., glad you had a good time with your boys and husband. Everyone needs to get "recharged" in taking time off. We all need to pray for rain. We desparately need it. Stay coooooool everyone! Audrey

July 17, 2012 at 1:36 pm

Margie Gacki

Good morning, everyone. I see we need some spam extermination on this blog. I'm just posting something so you don't see the spam the first thing. Have a great day, everyone! Margie

July 17, 2012 at 6:41 am

JB in Texas

Welcome back JD. I am sure it was difficult coming back to work after your wonderful staycation with the boys. Thanks for covering up the spam, PJ.I guess Mr. Mooney does serve a purpose. No matter how upset or mad one might be, at least you aren't as miserable and bitter as he seems to be! Margie, praying for your mom's quick recovery. We had a nice rain last night. Actually down here, we are well ahead of our rainfall averages this year. Take care all, JB

July 16, 2012 at 11:45 pm

Margie Gacki

Sometimes we get some outside jerks posting things on this blog. It was quiet for a while but it's picked up again. Hey to all the regular bloggers out there. I had a crazy day today. I talked to an ICU nurse & my mom's doctor. My dad was giving my brother & me conflicting info. so I got things straightened out. My mom suffered what's called syncope. She didn't have a seizure. She told my dad & me she couldn't walk but the nurse said she was up & about today. It's confusing! Stay tuned. Margie

July 16, 2012 at 11:07 pm

PJ

Hi all did want ya to see the spam. Spam go away this is a family blog and you are not welcome!! Margie hope your mom is better. I will pray for both of ya. Don how is Rolex handling the weather? Had about half a inch of rain yesterday that was it for the hole week. Hope all my TX bloggers are well and safe from the big rain parts of TX got. Hope all are well and cool. PJ

July 16, 2012 at 8:41 pm
(1 Reply)

Don Ake

I predicted this drought in January! - http://akespains.blogspot.com/2012/07/welcome-to-customer-service-hell-there.html

July 16, 2012 at 4:45 pm

DoninRichmond

Another storm yesterday took downs more trees but this time only 7,000 without power. It's 92 here now with a heat index of 96 but will be much hotter for the next couple days. The afternoon Richmond Times update claims the heat will be more tolerable hen last week

July 16, 2012 at 3:44 pm

DoloresFromOK

Hey to all.OK has drought conditions.Our lakes are low.Temps are in the mid to high 90's.Very hot,I hate it.My Granddaughter's wedding was so lovely.Ceremony was outside at 7:30 pm alittle warm 92 but reception was inside and very cool.It was great spending time with family.Little Bentley was a joy.She beautiful,11lbs and 22in.Just growing like a weed.Hope all are well and staying cool.Stay safe,Dolores

July 16, 2012 at 3:30 pm

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  • Cold fronts, snowstorms, hurricanes, and sunshine. Fox News Channel meteorologist Janice Dean blogs about it all here. You can also follow Janice on Twitter.

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