The drought occurring in the United States is covering the widest area since a drought in 1956, said a report released Monday. The monthly State of the Climate drought report by the National Climactic Data Center said 55 percent of the continental United States is experiencing a moderate to extreme drought. That is the most since December 1956 when 58 percent of the nation was experiencing drought. In 2012, 80 percent of the United States is abnormally dry. The drought expanded last month with the fourteenth warmest and tenth driest June on record, the report said. Records go back to 1895. According to the report, the Midwest has experienced its seventh warmest and tenth driest April-to-June period, resulting in crops, pastures, and rangeland deteriorating at an alarming rate.
