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The drought of 2012 It has been more than a half-century since a drought this extensive hit the United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) reported July 16. The effects are growing and may cost the U.S. economy $50 billion.
Aug. 20, 2012
A dead fish lays several feet from the water in Lake Corpus Christi near Mathis, Tex., as the lake continues to shrink due to this year's drought. The city of Corpus Christi is thinking of mandatory water conservation restrictions, which could be in place by mid-September unless Corpus Christi's lakes receive rain.
Todd Yates
/
Corpus Christi Caller-Times via AP
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Aug. 20, 2012
Farmer Tom Albaugh inspects drought impacted ears of corn in a field on his farm in Ankeny, Iowa. Albaugh expects to be harvesting by the middle of September, ahead of the usual end of September or early October schedule. The harvest is three to four weeks ahead of schedule in most of the corn belt because an unusually warm spring allowed farmers to plant earlier.
Charlie Neibergall
/
AP
Aug. 17, 2012
Genea Stoops, who runs Hooves & Paws Rescue of the Heartland, tends to miniature horses she shelters in Glenwood, Iowa. Because the drought has dried up pastures and raised the price of feed and hay, some owners who can no longer afford to feed their horses are giving up their animals to rescue operations.
Nati Harnik
/
AP
Aug. 16, 2012
Dust is blown from behind a combine harvesting corn in a field near Coy, Ark.
Danny Johnston
/
AP
Aug. 15, 2012
Severely damaged corn stalks due to a widespread drought are seen at sunset on a farm near Oakland City, Indiana.
Saul Loeb
/
AFP/Getty Images
Aug. 13, 2012
Potential buyers view cattle corralled into a holding pen from above at the United Producers Inc. livestock auction in Little York, Ind. Feeder-cattle futures rose to a five-week high on signs of tightening supplies, after the worst U.S. drought since 1956 dried pastures and forced producers to sell animals earlier than normal.
Ty Wright
/
Bloomberg
Aug. 13, 2012
Cattle are unloaded from a trailer before being taken to a holding pen at the United Producers Inc. livestock auction in Little York, Ind
Ty Wright
/
Bloomberg
Aug. 13, 2012
Employees at Schweizer Orchards sort apples that were recently harvested at their production facility in Amazonia, Mo. Cory Schweizer, vice president of the company, said the business had to rely on irrigating crops this year to offset the drought.
Todd Weddle
/
St. Joseph News-Press via AP
Aug. 13, 2012
President Obama inspects drought-stricken corn as he visits the McIntosh farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa.
Jim Watson
/
AFP/Getty Images
Aug. 9, 2012
An employee stands inside a grain bin at Kahle Supply and Feed Mill Inc.'s facility in Kalida, Ohio. Corn production in the United States is estimated to drop 13 percent to a six-year low after the hottest July since 1936 damaged Midwest fields, the government said.
Ty Wright
/
Bloomberg News
Aug. 9, 2012
An employee holds a handful of corn inside of a grain bin at Kahle Supply and Feed Mill Inc.'s facility in Kalida, Ohio.
Ty Wright
/
Bloomberg
Aug. 9, 2012
Buchanan County, Mo., employees Ron Martin, right, prepares to go back out onto Lake Contrary in his jon boat to pick up more dead fish. Shane Hartman tosses what he collected into a front-end loader. Low water levels and extreme heat caused a sizable fish kill in the Oxbow lake that the Missouri Department of Conservation estimates to be about 20,000 mostly invasive Asian carp.
Eric Keith
/
St. Joseph News-Press via AP
Aug. 6, 2012
Near Vicksburg, Miss., water levels on the Mississippi River continue to fall as rocks normally submerged are exposed. In 2011, the river was overflowing near Vicksburg.
Robert Ray
/
AP
July 31, 2012
A tractor cuts down corn in a field designated as zero yield on a farm in Vigo County near Terre Haute, Ind. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared more than half the counties in the country natural disaster areas as drought sears millions of acres of pasture and cropland.
Victor J. Blue
/
Bloomberg
July 26, 2012
Grain bins in Pleasant Plains, Ill., are silhouetted beneath approaching storm clouds that contained very little water. The most widespread drought to grip the United States in decades is getting worse with no signs of abating.
Seth Perlman
/
AP
July 26, 2012
In this photo, dead fish float in a drying pond near Rock Port, Mo. Multitudes of fish are dying in the Midwest as the sizzling summer dries up rivers and raises water temperatures in some spots to nearly 100 degrees.
Nati Harnik
/
AP
July 21, 2012
Illinois state Rep. Frank Mautino (D-Spring Valley), right, talks with DePue village President Eric Bryant, left, and resident Brian Wachs. They and others were working feverishly to raise water levels in Lake DePue enough to host the annual APBA PRO National Boat Races on July 25-29. About 350 volunteers helped to create a makeshift dam out of sandbags and millions of gallons of water had to be pumped in from a nearby river.
Anthony Souffle
/
News Tribune via AP
July 18, 2012
A dead fish lies in Mitchell Lake in the Ballard Wildlife Management Area near Barlow, Ky., as a lack of rain and excessive heat deplete oxygen from the water.
Stephen Lance Dennee
/
AP
July 20, 2012
Jim Contreras, Sam Waidzulius, 4, and Taylor Novak, 11, walk along the bed of the Mississippi River in their home town of Davenport, Iowa.
Mike Bradley
/
The Dispatch via AP
July 18, 2012
Kevin Heiserman started feeding his cattle hay three weeks ago to supplement the dry pastures at his farm in Rowley, Iowa. Many ranchers have been forced to sell animals as the drought persists.
Liz Martin
/
The Gazette via AP
Corn prices are rising
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) holds up a drought-damaged ear of corn during a news conference on a farm in Waltonville, Ill.
Scott Olson
/
Getty Images
Soybean prices skyrocket
Prices of soybeans are at their highest since 2008, Bloomberg News reported. Wheat prices have risen more than 40 percent. Farmer Albert Walsh walks through a drought-damaged corn field in Carmi, Ill.
Daniel Acker
/
Bloomberg
The drought is widespread
Through the end of June, 56 percent of the continental U.S. was in some form of drought, the largest percentage since December 1956. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said more than 1,000 counties in 26 states are natural disaster areas. What is normally a pond on the property of Ray Mercer in Crossville, Ill., is now cracked, dry land. The Illinois Farm Bureau says the state is experiencing the sixth driest year on record.
Daniel Acker
/
Bloomberg News
It's no 1930s Dust Bowl ... yet
NOAA said the current drought does not yet compare with the Dust Bowl droughts of the 1930s in terms of duration or intensity. The agency compared it to a similar dry spell in the 1950s. Here, boats sit on the bottom in a dry cove at Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, Ind.
Michael Conroy
/
AP
June 28,2012
A pivot irrigator puts water down on a field of peanuts belonging to the Floyd family in Danville, Ga. As drought conditions continue in middle Georgia, farmers are increasingly relying on irrigation to make a profit.
Grant Blankenship
/
AP
July 4, 2012
Maureen Pauly-Hubbard of Madison, Wisc., cools off in front of a misting fan in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Liz Martin
/
AP
July 11, 2012
Alena Scotton, 12, helps clear weeds from a soybean field with other members of her church youth group in Brooklyn, Iowa.
Adrees Latif
/
Reuters
July 4, 2012
Japanese beetles eat leaves in a soybean field outside of Walnut, Ill.
Daniel Acker
/
Bloomberg News
July 13, 2012
Lighting strikes over a barn surrounded by a soybean crop in Donnellson, Iowa.
Adrees Latif
/
Reuters
July 12, 2012
Joe Fischer checks on his corn field in Owensboro, Ky. "We have no idea what our yield will be," Fischer said.
John Dunham
/
AP
July 17, 2012
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (R), left, looks over a soybean field with farmer Brooks Hurst following a meeting in Tarkio, Mo., regarding the ongoing drought. Relentless heat and historically dry conditions are showing no signs of easing in Missouri, with the National Weather Service predicting seven to 10 more days of 100-degree temperatures, including several expected to reach at least 105 degrees.
Eric Keith
/
AP
July 17, 2012
Corn plants wither in a drought-stricken farm field near Fritchton, Ind.
Scott Olson
/
Getty Images
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