Report shows record U.S. drought intensifying

(CBS/AP) ST. LOUIS - A new report shows the drought in the U.S. heartland is rapidly intensifying and shows no signs of abating.

The U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday shows that the amount of land classified in extreme or exceptional drought jumped to more than 20 percent, up 7 percent from last week.

More than 63 percent of the continental U.S. is in some stage of drought, a portion unseen since the Drought Monitor started in 1999.

The drought has sent corn, soybean and other commodity prices soaring in recent weeks.

The Department of Agriculture said Wednesday the drought will help push food prices up by 3 percent to 4 percent next year. Milk, eggs, beef, poultry and pork prices will all be affected by the drought.

Beef prices are expected to see the biggest jump at 4 percent to 5 percent. Dairy product prices are forecast to climb 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent; poultry and egg prices are projected to rise 3 percent to 4 percent; and pork prices are expected to rise 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent in 2013, the agency said.

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Massive drought strikes U.S.

Besides lower crop yields driving up food prices, the Mississippi River, one of the food-growing heartland's most-vital shipping lanes, is running about 12 feet below normal.

"It takes more turns, more shipments to get the same amount of tonnage down to New Orleans," Barge operator Mark Fletcher told CBS News.

Another nasty side-effect of the drought is the rise of swarming insects seeking shelter from the hot and dry conditions in yards and even houses.

Mike O'Toole, of Iowa's AAA Pest Control, told "CBS This Morning": "The insects are being driven inside because they're looking for coolness, dampness -- some place to get out of the sun and out of the heat."

Watch the full report on the drought and swarming insects below.

[dickkahrs]

By 2100, there will be very few humans left!

[TimeToEvolve]

Maybe this is what it will take to convince people of the disaster of global climate change. We certainly can't depend on the corporations to take care of things, all they care about is money for the greedy at the top. And they completely own and run the Republicon Party who is determined to send us to our doom as long as their masters keep giving them money.

We don't learn from scientists, we have to live it, I guess.

[lillyhorton]

Why are food prices rising now? The shortage won't be here until next year. We are using last years crops which were abundant. Talk about Pucking us all. Welcome to the US where electronics are afordable but food is not. By the way, there is no corn or soy in many food products so why are the prices rising across the store? Wheat, for instance, in cerials and bread which do not require eggs. Flax seed and rice products havn't been hurt by the weather either. I believe semi trucks run on diesle not ethanol.

[TimeToEvolve]

Giant corporations run our entire economic system for maximum profit for the few. They have taken over the media, the military and the the government for greed and riches. People just don't want to admit it.

[need_to_say_it]

Do we bail them out? or do we let them fail?

[Rejco100]

And UNLIMITED AMOUNTS of fresh water is flowing into the Pacific Ocean from the Columbia River.....UNUSED!

[Mike_in_USA]

So after twitter, internet, video games, cloud computing, global connections, bankers and government, we are, still, an agrarian economy. Now if it becomes bad enough, the question is--will our government stop food exports, or let us starve (or at least go hungry more) to pacify those who hate us anyway? You know, look good.

[tvwatcher5345]

i'm glad there is no such thing as global warming, and i'm glad that there won't be a cat6 hurricane in tampa for the rebublican convention where all the beautiful people will be hanging out

[daclhill]

What is really hilarious is that these same conservative republicans who claim their is no global warming and are so insistent on curbing federal spending and diminishing federal dollars are going to be the first to ask for federal aid (federal dollars) because of the drought (caused by this non existent global warming. It will never cease to amaze me.

[lloydbest1]

Droughts come and go in cycles. We have in place now certain wind and ocean current patterns that encourage heat and dryness in the lower midwest and southeast. The most prominent and influential of these patterns affecting the United States is the Pacific Decadal Oscillation or PDO.

I'm oversimplifying here but think of EL Nino/La Nina (sometimes called "ENSO") interactions. During a La Nina phase, most of the planet chills a little but our region of concern is actually more likely to heat up and dry out. The opposite happens during La Nina events. The Southeast, for reasons I don't understand, is more strongly affected than the lower Midwest but both are susceptable to drought conditions. The PDO cycle functions very much like El Nino/La Nina in that the "negative" half of the cycle tends to bring warmth and drying to the regions now most severely affected and the "positive" half brings relatively cooler and wetter conditions.

What differentiates the PDO from El Nino/La Nina, however, is the length of the cycle. With ENSO, we usually go from one to the other and back to the first in a matter of a year, or two at the most. The PDO takes up to 70 years to drift from one phase of its cycle to the other and back again. So if you're in the "wrong" half of the cycle, you could be facing years of conditions similar to the ones you're dealing with now.
We are about five years, maybe seven, into a very intense negative half of this PDO. We could be facing up to 20 more years of this shi- er, stuff - and if you graft a La Nina on top of this and trowel on a hefty dose of "Global Warming" for good measure, you have the potential of seeing a major agricultural disaster unfold right before your eyes. This not only bodes ill for our wallets here at home but given we feed about two thirds of the rest of the world, it strongly increases the odds we will possibly bear witness to mega-deaths due to famine in food insecure parts of the world.

Hang on tightly, it's gonna be a rough ride......

[sepa2]

celebrity TV meteorologists are elated with so many bright sunny beach days. Back to the news desk, Harry you can play as much golf as you want, Susan do not forget the sunscreen

[formerlyluvnut]

Evvvvverybody whines whines whines about President Obama. Whatcha'll gonna do when he get re-elected?