More than half of the country was under moderate to extreme drought in June, the largest area of the contiguous United States affected by such dryness in nearly 60 years. Nearly 1,300 counties across 29 states have been declared federal disaster areas. Areas under moderate to extreme drought in June of each year are shown in orange.
-via the NYTimes
The absolute area affected, the area of most extreme drought, and the agricultural impact exceed last year’s Texas drought already and August hasn’t started.
I drove through the affected area last week. On my route, the most visible environmental damage was in Wisconsin, where the native flora seemed most ill-adapted to Texas-like conditions.