A new report on the 2012 drought was released, providing a state by state account of the impacts of the 2012 drought that struck the Midwest and High Plains. While the drought was largely confined to 2012, some areas did not recover until 2013. And it took time to collect all the data and impacts.
Here is a quote by me from the press release …
“Our ability to monitor and assess drought conditions gets better and better each year as new data networks and monitoring products become available,” said Jim Angel, Illinois state climatologist and one of the authors of the report. “Another standout feature in the 2012 drought was the sheer volume and quality of data coming from state-level monitoring networks, providing measurements rarely collected elsewhere like soil moisture and soil temperature.”
You can find the press release, the executive summary, and the full report at the National Drought Mitigation Center website: