How Sprawl Makes Droughts Worse

If you live in the U.S. and have been outside lately, chances are you don’t need to be reminded that this is the hottest summer many of us can remember, and also one of the driest, following a relatively dry winter and spring. Heck, you don’t even need to go outside to know these things if, like me, you were one of the millions of Americans whose homes or workplaces experienced prolonged power outages a couple of weeks ago. But allow me to remind you anyway, or perhaps just commiserate with you, for a moment. As Michael Pearson and Melissa Abbey wrote earlier this week for CNN, our country is experiencing its worst drought in over half a century. At least 55 percent of the US was in moderate-to-severe drought as of last month, and things have only gotten worse since. Indeed, June 2012 ranks as the third-driest month nationally in 118 years, write Pearson and Abbey. Among consequences, 38 percent of the corn planted in the 18 leading corn-producing states is considered to be in poor or very poor condition this week, according to the US Department of Agriculture. See full Article.