June 24 -- A year after enduring massive floods, much of the Midwest faces a drought expanding in size and intensity, damaging crops and raising concerns about the threat of fire from fireworks as July 4 approaches.
Large
sections of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas face drought conditions
after a mild winter, little spring rain and recent scorching temperatures. The
National Weather Service predicts drought conditions will persist or even
intensify over the next three months in much of the lower Midwest.
Prices
for crops have surged recently on concerns the dry weather will lead to a lower
harvests. Corn prices for the coming crop hit their highest level since March,
while soybean prices climbed to a nine-month high at the Chicago Board of
Trade.
Rising
commodity prices can translate into higher food costs, especially as producers
of beef, pork and chicken look to pass on higher animal-feed costs.
The
summer months tend to be a dry period for the central U.S., limiting the
chances for rain to replenish parched soil.
"Going
into that dry period already dry is not looking good," said Jim Keeney,
weather program manager for the National Weather Service in Kansas City.
Swaths
of Texas and the western U.S. have faced drought conditions for much of the
year, including parts of Colorado where wildfires continue to burn. But drought
conditions only recently have built in the Midwest—a sharp change from a year
ago when heavy rains and swollen rivers led to historic flooding.
Jeff
Scates, a farmer in Southern Illinois, said about 75% of his family's farm was
underwater last spring, and he didn't finish planting his corn crop until early
June. This year, he got his crop into the ground by late April, but dry
conditions are now causing damage and reducing the number bushels his fields
will produce."I don't remember anytime when it was this dry, this
early," the 42-year-old farmer said.
Meteorologists
say the dry conditions in the Midwest started with a lack of snow, which
usually replenishes soil with moisture.
The
spring brought below-average rainfalls in states such as Illinois and Indiana,
and the warmest average temperatures in the Midwest for the first five months
of the year on record, according to the Midwestern Regional Climate Center.
Data
from the National Drought Mitigation Center shows rainfall in the southern
Illinois city of Carbondale totaled 7.5 inches from the start of March to last
week, down from 30.3 inches last year and 16.8 inches in a normal year. In
northern Ohio, Akron is similarly dry, with rainfall of 8.2 inches compared
with 20 inches a year ago and 12.9 inches in a normal year.
The
dry weather is raising worries about fire as dry conditions fueled recent
grassland blazes in rural Nebraska and other parts of the Midwest. July 4
fireworks displays present an additional threat.In Indiana, fire officials are
cautioning against shooting off fireworks, with some counties banning their use
by residents.
In
LaPorte County, Ind., nestled along Lake Michigan southeast of Chicago, the
emergency management department has been getting a steady stream of calls from
people asking whether fireworks shows will be canceled. While the county is
telling residents not to set off their own fireworks, community displays are
still on, said Fran Tibbot, the county's emergency management director.
"Hopefully
we will get some rain," she said.
Not
all of the Midwest is dry. Duluth, Minn., was inundated last week by a record
7.2 inches of rainfall in about 24 hours. Rising water damaged hundreds of
homes and caused about $100 million in infrastructure damage alone, according
to city officials. Miles of roadways were torn up, bridges and rail lines were
washed away and the city zoo is a mess.
The
city's port operation—based largely on shipments of taconite for the steel
industry—has been severely curtailed. "Railcars can't get to ships,"
said Amy Norris, 59, a public information coordinatorfor the city.
Northern
states including Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota are closer to normal
rainfall levels as a high pressure system over the middle of the country pushed
wet weather northward during the last month. But they are expected to be dry
this week, while southern areas such as Kansas City, Mo. will face intense
heat, said Rick Hluchan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Duluth.
In
Colorado, meanwhile, wildfires threatened some of the state's most popular
summer tourist destinations over the weekend, demolishing nearly two dozen
homes near Rocky Mountain National Park and emptying hotels and campgrounds,
according to the Associated Press. A wildfire near Colorado Springs prompted
the evacuations of more than 11,000 residents, the AP reported.
Tropical
Storm Debby hunkered down in the central Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, forcing oil
and gas companies to cut production while forecasters debated which way the
system would go next—west toward Texas or east into Florida.
Meanwhile,
Tropical Storm Debby hunkered down in the central Gulf of Mexico on Sunday,
forcing oil and gas companies to cut production while forecasters debated which
way the system would go next—west toward Texas or east into Florida.
Mark Peters www.wsj.com
