date:May 25, 2012
The last several weeks have seen just fractions of normal rainfall in the nation's midsection, leading to both growing shortages of soil moisture and declining crop conditions. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows how rapidly the dry conditions are spreading; As of Tuesday, virtually all of Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas ranges from abnormally dry to moderate drought, with about half of Missouri and Illinois under similar conditions.
Drought conditions expanded considerably across the Midwest, northern