Longer US Drought Feared Under Dry Forecast

Forecasts calling for weeks of dry weather ahead in parts of the US already suffering with drought are fuelling new concerns that another hot, dry year could lie ahead for key crop-growing and cattle-grazing states.

"Dry weather will prevail in core drought areas of the western Midwest and Central Plains through the last half of January," said Joel Widenor, an agricultural meteorologist for Commodity Weather Group.

"This will also prevent any long-term stabilisation in river levels in the middle Mississippi River Valley," he said.

Last year saw the worst drought in more than 50 years for parts of the Midwest and central Plains states.

Heavy rainfall over the weekend in the southern Midwest provided much-needed moisture in some areas and also raised water levels on the crucial shipping waterway, the Mississippi River.

Mississippi River water levels have been low since mid-2012

"It certainly was welcome and lifted the water level south of St. Louis", said Don Keeney, a meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather.
"The only problem now is it looks dry for about two weeks, so water levels will be receding again."

But the western Midwest and Plains, where nearly all of the country's winter wheat is grown, stayed dry, with no forecasts for rain or snow anytime soon.

The government declared much of the central and southern US Wheat Belt a natural disaster area last Wednesday, as drought threatens the harvest.

That declaration by the Agriculture Department made growers in large portions of four major wheat-growing states - Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas - eligible for low-interest emergency loans.

Mr Keeney said a cold snap this week may have caused some minor crop loss in parts of western Nebraska, and a blast of cold Arctic air is expected to hit the Midwest next week.

"It will drop to the single digits in the north, so this will need to be watched for some possible harm to some wheat," he said.

The bitter cold will not reach into the Plains wheat region, he added.