About 40 percent of the contiguous United States is currently parched by a rainfall shortage. July has seen the highest percentage of the United States in drought conditions ever recorded by the U.S. Drought Monitor, said Brian Fuchs of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in a press release.
The Monitor ranks conditions from D0 (abnormal dryness) and moves up in severity to D1 (moderate drought), D2 (severe drought), D3 (extreme drought) and D4 (exceptional drought). Although several whole states are in a drought, certain areas areas are further behind in the amount of rain that has fallen. The ranking system helps people understand how fierce the drought is in one area relative to another.
Texas is the hardest hit. Three-fourths of the state broils under "exceptional drought" conditions. But many other states are suffering as well.
- New Mexico - 100 percent of the state is in a drought; 48 percent of the state suffers under D4 (exceptional drought) conditions.
- Louisiana - 100 percent drought; 33 percent exceptional
- Oklahoma - 100 percent drought; 52 percent exceptional
- South Carolina - 97 percent drought; 16 percent exceptional
- Georgia - 95 percent drought; 68 percent exceptional
- Arkansas - 96 percent drought; 6 percent exceptional
- Florida - 89 percent drought; 20 percent exceptional
Altogether, 18 percent of the United States is in an extreme or exceptional drought, according to the Drought Monitor's rating system.
Read More: http://news.discovery.com/earth/forty-one-percent-of-us-abnormally-dry-110802.html
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