Deadly Drought Worsens Corn, Soybean, Pasture and Range Conditions

Corn in v. poor or poor condition increases to 45 percent: USDA

The amount of corn considered to be in very poor to poor condition has increased by 7 percent since last week due to ongoing drought and lingering heat wave, according to the USDA Crop Progress report.

• The amount of corn regarded as being in good or excellent condition was 26 percent for the week ending July 22, a drop of 5 percent since previous week. It was 62 percent last year.
• The USDA statistics are based on 18 States which planted 92% of the 2011 corn acreage: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

U.S. Corn Condition by State Map as of July 22, 2012. Source: USDA/AWA

Soybean Condition

The amount of soybeans considered to be in very poor to poor condition was 35 percent, an increase of 5 percent since last week.

• The amount of soybean regarded as being in good or excellent condition was 31 percent, a drop of 3 percent since last week. It was 62 percent last year.
• The statistics are based on 18 States that planted 95% of the 2011 soybean acreage: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina,
  North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Pasture and Range Condition

Pasture and Range Condition for the lower 48 States which are weighted based on pasture acreage and/or livestock inventories, further deteriorated by 1 percent.

• V. poor to poor category rose to 55 percent. It was 33 percent last year.

[Source: Crop Progress (July 2012) USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Report released July 23, 2012.]

Drought and Deluge Double Whammy

The historic drought could finally end in an epic deluge, in which case what is already extreme stress on the topsoil would be incalculable.

Corn in Drought Map. Latest available map of drought superimposed on the corn production areas. This map depicts drought-affected areas of the U.S. corn producing farmland as of July 17, 2012. Approximately 88% of the corn grown in the U.S. is within an area-experiencing drought, based on historical U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) crop production data.

Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events

• China. Typhoon VICENTE has grown into a monstrous category 4A stormwith sustained winds of more than 215kmph.  The storm has landed  in southern China.
  • The Hong Kong Observatory has raised its storm warning signal to the highest level 10, while local media reported at least 70 people  injured, as of posting.

Typhoon VICENTE – NHC Enhanced IR Sat Image. Source: CIMSS

• China.  Extreme Rain Events have buffeted 17 provinces in China since July 20, leaving hundreds dead or missing.
  • Rainstorm related disasters have affected up to 10 million people in thousands of towns and villages across 264 counties in 17 provinces, forcing about a million residents to flee their homes.
  • Rainstorms also destroyed or damaged about 100,000 homes.
  • “In Sichuan province, water levels in several rivers have exceeded the warning levels and the Luzhou section in the upper reach of the Yangtze River has witnessed the biggest flooding since 1949, according to the provincial flood control headquarters,” said a report.
    
  • Dozens of cities and villages are submerged under about 2m of water.
  • The influx of floodwater into the Three Gorges Reservoir, upstream of the gigantic Three Gorges hydropower project in Yichang, Hubei province, is expected to reach 70,000 cubic meters per second, the report said.
    

Original Caption: The pivot of Three Gorges releases flood water in seven spillways in Yichang, central China’s Hubei Province, July 23, 2012. The Three Gorges Dam will experience its largest flood peak this year on Tuesday, the Yangtze River flood control and drought relief headquarters said Monday. (Xinhua/Zheng Jiayu)

Related Links

• Watching Events Unfold, Frame by Frame, Exactly as Forecast Posted July 20, 2012
• Deadly Heat Continues to Devour U.S. Crops Posted July 19, 2012

• Drought Continues to Plague Two-Thirds of Continental U.S. Posted July 17, 2012
• Largest Ever U.S. Disaster Continues Unfolding July 14, 2012
• Drought 2012 Posted on January 8, 2012
• Drought and deluge 

Watching Events Unfold, Frame by Frame, Exactly as Forecast

Drought 2012 could linger for months

Corn and soybean prices break all-time records. Corn prices have climbed 53 percent in one month, as worst drought and poorest crop conditions in decades decimate yields in the Corn Belt region and beyond.

U.S. Drought Map for July 17, 2012, released July 19.

List of Disaster Areas Continues Growing

On Wednesday, USDA designated an additional 39 counties in 8 states as Primary Natural Disaster areas due to worsening drought, making up a disaster total of 1,297 counties in 29 states.  Additionally,  several hundred other counties have been declared as contiguous disaster areas.

One Way Drought

Drought is intensifying in the Corn Belt region and creeping to the areas beyond including Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, southern Minnesota and parts of Missouri, Kentucky and the Dakotas.

Drought and Deluge Double Whammy

The historic drought could finally end in an epic deluge, in which case what is already extreme stress on the topsoil would be incalculable.

NASS Crop Production Data. Map of drought superimposed on the corn production areas, July 10, 2012.

Drought Stats

• Nearly two-thirds of Continental U.S. is currently in drought condition

• More than 42 percent of the lower 48 states were in SEVERE, EXTREME or EXCEPTIONAL Drought Conditions (D2-D4) as of July 17, 2012, a rise of over 5 percent since last week.

• As of July 17, 2012,  the entire Continental U.S. with the exception of Maine was experiencing Abnormally Dry or Drought Conditions (D0 -D4)  in full or in parts of the states, a situation which has since worsened due to scant precipitation and a persistent heat wave in the past few days.

• More than 81 percent of the Contiguous United States was Abnormally Dry or in Drought  Conditions (D0 – D4).
• Drought 2012 is considered as the worst drought since 1956 and worst agricultural drought since 1988.

• About 40% of the U.S. corn crop is in poor-very poor condition.
• Good-excellent soybean crop dropped to 34% – down from 56% at start of season.
• Some 1,297 counties in 29 states have been declared as primary natural disaster areas, with several hundred other counties designated as contiguous disaster areas.
• Less than 10 percent topsoil moisture is left in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
• Topsoil moisture in the entire Central Region is below 50 percent of normal.
  • Drought is expected to persist or intensify across Central Region.
  • About 98 percent of corn is grown within Central Region.
• About 80 percent of corn grown in the U.S. is experiencing drought.

Deadly Heat Persists

Meantime, preliminary records from NCDC showed 145 high temperature records broken Wednesday and 67 records tied in 23 states: Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

High temperatures in the triple digits will be the norm for the next several days for parts of the central U.S., with heat indices reaching into the 110 degree range. Some NWS Forecast Offices have already extended their heat advisories to last through the middle of next week. Source: NWS

Daily Max Heat Index Forecast

Latest Related Posts

• U.S. Drought Continues to Spread, Intensify Posted July 19, 2012
• Another Heat Wave Grips America’s Heartland Posted July 18, 2012
• Drought Continues to Plague Two-Thirds of Continental U.S.  Posted July 17, 2012
• Drought and deluge 

Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events

• Fires ravage Madeira islands and mainland Portugal
• Nationwide Spanish protests turn violent
• Over a third of Fukushima children at risk of developing cancer  [Google, WordPress and others filtered/blocked/suppressed FIRE-EARTH warnings on Fukushima nuclear disaster.]
• 80 people still missing after a Tanzanian ferry sank near Zanzibar
• Over 2,000 houses inundated in flood in Nepal

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar