July 5, 2012 Drought wreaks havoc in the Hoosier state
It's not just hot and dry. It's so hot and dry there are farmers in southwest Indiana that have already plowed under fields because their corn was dying, and more may follow suit. It's so hot and dry that livestock feed prices are skyrocketing to record levels, triggering what will likely be higher meat prices for consumers.
It's so hot and dry that wood-boring insects are lethally feasting on water-starved trees, even those that have been around for decades. It's so hot and dry that using a water sprinkler on your lawn may be a wasted effort since your grass may already be dead, not just dormant.
It's so hot and dry that we should probably be hoping for a hurricane.
"It's bad to say it, but that's what we need," said Austin Pearson, a research assistant at the Indiana State Climate Office at Purdue University. "We need a hurricane or tropical storm to come up through the Gulf of Mexico, through the eastern half of Texas and ride up through the Midwest."
Bringing with it, of course, a big, soaking rain that would last several days to compensate for months of little more than spit.
