Texas Drought Worst Ever; Impacts Severe, Wide

We've all heard the stories and I've blogged about this before, but Texas and Oklahoma have suffered from one of the worst droughts in history this year (officially the worst in Texas) for agricultural losses which total $6.8 billion for the two states.

The map above shows the meteorological measure of the drought -- much of the area is more than a foot in the hole for rain, with many areas literally "off the chart" at 20 inches or more. What kind of impacts is this having? A wide-ranging list is available below, and I think you'll see this turning into a national story affecting much of the U.S. population in the coming months.

- The number of cattle nationwide is at its lowest point in 50 years (AP)

- Farmers are moving on to other animals that reproduce faster and eat less (Wall Street Journal)

- The price of meat will go up eventually because of these hardships (Wall Street Journal)

- The price of hay has more than doubled when shipping costs are added in (AP)

- Importing hay from out-of-state can spread a toxic beetle that kills livestock (AgriLife Today)

- The drought has made snake attacks worse (AccuWeather.com)

- Animals are suffering from malnourishment (warning: disturbing photos) (The Record Live)

- People have started a petition for the National Guard to send hay to Texas

- Some say that this may only be the start of a drought lasting 10 years or more, and blame Global Warming.

So is there any good news? Well, the states have received some rain in the last week (see map above), though it's hardly made a statistical dent in this long-term drought. And on the other side of the coin, farmers in Illinois and North Dakota are making money from the sale of hay to those down south.