South-Central States Battling Drought

The south-central states have been suffering a massive drought. Record  summer temperatures and little rain have put three states, being Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, into such a position that they have lost more than 8 billion dollars through combinations of crop and livestock losses.  In Texas alone, preliminary estimates show the state has lost $5.2 billion dollars, and as shown on the drought map, the vast majority of the state is covered in dark red shading: an indicator of sever and exceptional drought: the highest category there is. Comparably, this area would cover the northeastern portion of the United States from Virginia and Maryland up to Maine.

Kansas and Oklahoma have faired similarly badly, but not to the same extent, with Kansas taking in losses estimated at $1.7 billion, and Oklahoma at $1.6 billion. In fact, as of September 13, it was estimated that 93% of Oklahoma was in extreme to exceptional drought.

((http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/drought-south-central-cost_2011-09-15))