(Reuters) - Conditions for crops and livestock are growing more dire by the day in the U.S. Southwest as drought continues to grip the region.
Texas is a tinderbox, pastureland for hungry cattle is drying up, and prospects are deteriorating rapidly for wheat, corn, cotton and other crops.
"Conditions are just deplorable right now. One hundred percent of the state is currently in some form of drought," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples told Reuters.
Data released on Thursday morning by a consortium of national climate experts said a lack of rain had caused the drought to expand over the last week to "extreme" and even "exceptional" levels in parts of Oklahoma and Texas.
In Midland, Texas, rainfall has been only 2 percent of the norm since October 1, making it the driest period on record there.
"The Southwest is pretty bad from southeast Arizona all the way over to Louisiana," said Mark Svoboda, climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center. "Texas is particularly bad. It is not a very good situation."
WILDFIRES
The center released an updated report on Thursday morning showing levels of severe to exceptional drought covering Texas, most of Oklahoma and Arizona, eastern Colorado and southwest Kansas.
Wildfires are a particular problem as hot and dry conditions are compounded by high winds. More than 5,000 fires have charred 983,000 acres in Texas alone since the start of the year. One Texas wildfire has consumed more than 108,000 acres since last weekend.
Low pond levels and dried-out pastures are complicating efforts by ranchers to keep cattle healthy. And many wheat growers are giving up on fields entirely.
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