Baking the Breadbasket: Persistent Drought in the Heartland

Deke Arndt, NOAA

In this video, NOAA's Deke Arndt, Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at the National Climatic Data Center, recaps the temperature and precipitation data for the continental US in summer 2012. It describes how these conditions have led to drought and reduced crop yields.

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Notes from our reviewers

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This short video provides great support for discussion of extreme weather events in the US Plains states. Keep in mind that the focus of the video is 2012. You can find more up-to-date information on temperature, precipitation, and drought here- https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/all. It could be used by teachers in the Midwest to explain how drought and excessive rainfall relate to global temperature increases. Suggest watching the video twice, perhaps pausing at each of the indicator maps - drought monitor, air, temperature, precipitation, so students can read and apply the key provided with each.
The video reports that summer 2012 was the third hottest on record in the U.S. and all of 2012 was on track to being the warmest year in the U.S. (This was confirmed, but by the time you read this, a new record may have been set.) The video goes on to explains why intense heat and lack of rain lead to crop damage and failure. No explicit connection is made to anthropogenic climate change. Comments from expert scientist: It does a very good job at explaining the link between above normal temperatures and rainfall deficits and crop stress/failure.