No real drought relief in sight

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - In Indiana, 99 percent of the state is in some degree of drought. It's so bad that 55 counties have been declared disaster areas.

Nationwide, that designation covers 1,000 counties in 26 states.

So 24-Hour News 8 talked to a drought expert, who said he sees little reason to expect improvement soon.

"You can see what heat does when you have a drought -- and droughts are a normal part of the climate cycle," said climatologist Mark Svoboda.

The Midwest is more accustomed to tornadoes as part of that cycle. We see their power in localized damage.

Svoboda, with the National Drought Mitigation Center, said his map shows a drought, especially this one, can affect millions of people.

"Mother Nature always seems to hold the last card," he said.

This year, scenes of the drought reach from California to the Carolinas.

"In fact, it's the greatest amount of areal coverage we've seen since we started the drought monitor map," Svoboda said.

Parts of Indiana are in one of the most extreme drought categories.

"Well, what we've seen in Indiana in particular and sort of the Midwest region in general has been a really rapid-onset type of drought -- not the typical drought that you might expect to develop over months or seasons or years," Svoboda said

And, he said, with the heat we've had, the drought just feeds on itself.

"There's nothing coming out of the soil or plants to give the atmosphere some juice. So the drought just sits there," he said.

Add to that forecast models he's watching, and Svoboda said the next two to four weeks don't look good.

"You're going to see probably an increase in intensity of this drought moving forward over the next month," he said.

And since we're heading into what is normally a drier part of the year, he said the forecast models aren't encouraging about conditions into the fall.