A heat wave will hit a large chunk of farm country today.
The National Weather Service issued heat advisories from Nebraska to Illinois and all the way down to Texas. The heat index could reach as high as 112 degrees in some cities.
People are being told to limit their time outdoors.
The severe drought in the western half of the country is having a grim impact on commodities.
USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey explains what is in jeopardy.
“The good news there is that it’s a relatively limited portion of the overall crop affected by drought, most of that in the upper Midwest states like the Dakotas, Minnesota, and extending into parts of Iowa and Nebraska. The corn production area and drought current number is 37 percent; soybean production area in drought-- 31 percent of the crop, virtually unchanged from a month ago... looking at some of our grazing lands, hay production area in drought, 36 percent is the current number, but it’s really, to the north, there’s a lot of alfalfa production. So, it is worth noting that 64 percent of the U.S. alfalfa production area, currently experiencing drought, and finally, I’ll mention that about one-third or 32 percent of the U.S. cattle inventory, experiencing drought as we enter the month of August,” according to Rippey.