National Geographic: Last year's drought smothered the central Great Plains from Colorado to Illinois in bone-dry heat, resulting in blasted fields, dried-up watering holes, and raging wildfires.
The period from May to August was the driest four months the United States has experienced since 1895, according to an analysis released April 11 led by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
A drought as severe as last year's happens only once every couple of hundred years, said Martin Hoerling,...