A new report shows that the nation's worst drought in decades is getting worse again, ending an encouraging five-week run of improving conditions.
The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report shows that 60.1% of the continental U.S. was in some form of drought as of Tuesday. That's up from 58.8% the previous week.
The portion of the lower 48 states in extreme or exceptional drought -- the two worst classifications -- also rose, to 19.04% from last week's 18.3%.
The stubbornly dry conditions intensified in Kansas, the top U.S. producer of winter wheat. The latest update shows that while 77.5% of that state remains in extreme or exceptional drought, the amount of land in the most-dire classification rose nearly 4 percentage points to 34.5%. (AP)
