USA: Why the drought won’t be getting better any time soon—and why this one won’t be the last

The droughts gets broader and deeper, covering more than three-fifths of the continental U.S. And scientific studies show that this sort of drought could only be the beginning, reports Bryan Walsh for Time.

Showing how this "flash drought" had broadened and deepened over just three weeks, he warns about the short-term drop in meat prices it will bring as well as the impact that goes beyond farming, such as stretches of rivers carrying the the nation’s grain, oil, gas and coal.

Moreover, citing Aiguo Dai's study published in the August 5 Nature Climate Change, Walsh asserts that more of these severe dry spells are to be expected in the future as, according to what climate models suggest severe drought conditions by the late half of this century over many densely populated areas such as Europe, the eastern USA, southeast Asia and Brazil due both to reduced precipitation and increased evaporation from higher temperatures.