For andre året på rad bringer sommeren tørke til et av verdens to største
kornkamre, midtvesten i USA.
Karsten Johansen
CNN:
So far, 2000 is warmest year yet in U.S.
No drought relief on the horizon for Southeast
July 14, 2000 Web posted at: 2:29 p.m. EDT (1829 GMT)
CAMP SPRINGS, Maryland (CNN) -- The first six months of 2000 were the
hottest January-to-June in the United States since record-keeping began more
than a century ago, U.S. government weather forecasters said Friday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also said that the
drought plaguing the Southeastern United States shows no sign of easing.
"January-June 2000 was the warmest first half of the year on record," NOAA
reported. "It was the warmest such six-month period on record for New Mexico
and the second warmest for Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas."
Statistics used to compile such records date back to 1895.
NOAA's latest report on the U.S. drought forecasts improvement in much of
the Midwest. "However, some parts of Nebraska, southwestern Iowa and
northwestern Kansas continue to experience drought," the outlook said. But
conditions will continue to be hot and dry in the Carolinas, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
NOAA also said the rest of the summer will bring warmer-than-normal
temperatures to the Southeast, the Southwest and the upper Midwest.
While much of the South looks set to get a break this weekend from a
weeks-long heat wave, southeast Texas will remain under a heat advisory
Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters predicted in that part of Texas, the heat index -- a combination
of temperature and humidity -- could reach as high as 110.
The mercury eased a bit Friday in many states, except for Florida where many
cities reported temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, prompting warnings
to the elderly to stay out of the sun and seek cool places.
It was also a sweltering day in Biloxi, Mississippi, where the heat index
Friday made it feel like 126 degrees. The period from January to June was
the warmest for the overall United States since U.S. government weather
forecasters began keeping records 106 years ago.
Drought stretches from Nebraska to Georgia
Drought is also taking a toll on many states.
While southwestern Nebraska was expected to be hit by severe thunderstorms
Friday night, earlier in the day 12 counties stretching from the
east-central part of the state to the Panhandle, were declared agriculture
disaster areas by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman because of drought
and severe storms.
The same declaration for 13 Iowa counties and one Texas county will make
farmers there eligible for emergency low-interest loans, Glickman said.
Adjacent counties were also covered by the declaration, meaning areas of
Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota and Wyoming are eligible for
the same benefits.
"Drought and other natural disasters continue to plague many of America's
farmers," Glickman said. "USDA is working to provide needed assistance and
emergency loans for farmers during these tough times."
Some counties in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota may also be
eligible for the Emergency Conservation Program, which provides cost-share
assistance to supply water for livestock and other conservation measures,
the USDA said.
The agency is also allowing livestock haying and grazing on some
Conservation Reserve Program land which will provide assistance to approved
producers whose pastures have been decimated by drought.
While the drought has eased across much of the Midwest, bone-dry conditions
remain in parts of Nebraska, Kansas, western Iowa and the Southeast.
'We've got to hope for better'
The governors of Nebraska, Georgia and Alabama have already taken emergency
steps to help farmers and ranchers keep livestock alive in parched grazing
pastures.
Chuck Sword's cattle are about 50 pounds lighter than usual, which means the
animals will be worth less money in the marketplace.
"It's about as bad as we've had it in the state of Georgia. This drought
just has been extended," said Sword, who is president of the Georgia
Cattlemen's Association.
There is trouble everywhere he looks: Dry land where streams used to run, a
pond that used to reach the bottom of the dock and the worry that thinner
cows will produce fewer calves next year.
Still, it's not enough to shake Sword's devotion to farming.
"Farmers and ranchers love this business; they are hard folks," he said.
"They really just get down and they are tough."
It's also been a long, dry summer for farmer Wilbur Gamble and it very
likely will be a depressing fall.
Without an irrigation system on part of his farm, Gamble is expecting the
now three-year drought in Georgia to completely wipe out his corn crop, half
of his cotton and about a quarter of his peanuts.
"I've never seen a crop as bad from dry weather the whole years I've
farmed," said Gamble, who has been farming for more than four decades.
Through the years he has relied mostly on nature to water his crops, but
this year, nature has let him down.
"Our streams are giving out, we have a long way to go," said Gamble. "It's
just one of those things. We've got to hope for the better."
CNN Correspondent Linda Ciampa, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed
to this report.
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