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Pull out your copies of The Grapes of Wrath, folks, since the hot weather of this past July has surpassed the miserable days of the Dust Bowl according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As Sam Nelson and Deborah Zabarenko reported at Scientific American:

The January-to-July period was also the warmest since modern record-keeping began in 1895, and the warmest 12-month period, eclipsing the last record set just a month ago. It was the fourth time in as many months that U.S. temperatures broke the hottest-12-months record, according to NOAA.

Farmers in the Midwest will hopefully see relief over the next week and half thanks to predicted rains, which should help the soybean crop. The rainbows will be coming to late to benefit the corn crop, though, which has been in decline for the last three years, likely driving up prices on products ranging from livestock feed to biofuels.

So, hold on to your Okie references unless you want to meet the business end of a harvester, since this is a pain we’ll all feel down the line.

Full story at Scientific American.

Praying for rain.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons