DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its final crop report for 2012, showing heavy losses due to the drought still gripping much of the nation.  The year-end report shows farmers got less than three-fourths of the corn the agency initially expected when planting was done in the spring.  The report released Friday shows a harvest of 10.78 billion bushels of corn, 27 percent less than the 14.8 billion bushels anticipated before drought set in.

The number in the final report is slightly more than the agency’s December estimate of 10.72 billion bushels and still marks one of the largest corn harvests in U.S. history. Farmers say better crop technology saved them from more devastating losses, and production was helped by the large number of acres planted this year.

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State Climatologist Harry Hillaker is reporting 2012 was Iowa’s third hottest year on record. The statewide average temperature through the year was 51.9 degrees. That was 3.8 degrees above normal, but just over one-degree cooler than 1931, the hottest year ever in Iowa. Nationally, government meteorologists say 2012 was the hottest year on record in the United States with an average temperature of just over 55 degrees. In addition to the heat, Iowa and nearly two-thirds of the country endured a summer-long drought.

Hillaker says 2012 was Iowa’s 19th driest year in 140 years of record keeping.  The statewide average precipitation last year was 26.31 inches, nearly 9 inches below normal. The record for Iowa’s driest year was set in 1910 at 19.98 inches of precipitation. Farmers and others who desperately needed rain last summer may find it hard to believe 2012 was only the 19th driest in state history. But, Hillaker notes above normal precipitation was recorded statewide in the months of February, April, October and December. July, meanwhile, was extremely dry and hot.

Hillaker says it the 5th driest July in Iowa history (1st-1936) and the month trailed only 1936 and 1901 for the hottest July in state history. The month of March was the warmest ever, 51.1 degrees on average, besting the previous record set in March 1910 by nearly two-and-a-half degrees. There was yet another unusual weather statistic in Iowa in 2012. You might call it a silver lining of the drought – as there were very few tornadoes.

Hillaker says there were only 16 confirmed tornadoes in Iowa last year and they all happened before the end of May. “Which is pretty amazing considering June is usually our busiest tornado month of the year,” Hillaker said. “That 16 annual total for tornadoes is, at least, our lowest since 1963.” Iowa averages 47 tornadoes per year. A record 120 tornadoes touched down in Iowa is 2004.

(Radio Iowa)

A new federal report finds well over half the country is still in a drought, including all of Iowa and several neighboring states. U-S-D-A meteorologist Brad Rippey says it’s easy to forget about the drought during wintertime, because there’s no blazing heat and lots of snow, but he affirms, the exceptionally dry weather is continuing.  “We still have 61.09% of the contiguous U.S. in drought,” Rippey says. “That is down nearly three-quarters of a percentage point from December 25th but it does still leave, obviously, a significant portion of the country in drought.” That’s virtually unchanged since July when about 60-percent of the nation was in drought conditions. Rippey says we need to be prepared for the long-haul.

Rippey says, “It is not unusual, especially across the western half of the country, for droughts historically to last many years, in the vicinity of a decade.” The famed Dust Bowl drought started in 1931 and lasted until 1940. Rippey isn’t predicting this drought will continue that long, but he reminds, it can happen. While we’ve all heard of a flash flood, Rippey says the “flash drought” isn’t nearly as well known, although Iowa saw a couple of them this past summer. “It is a very fast-developing phenomenon where you have high temperatures and little-to-no rainfall for a short period of time, on the order of one to two to three weeks,” Rippey says. “That’s the situation we’ve seen many times in the last couple of decades where crops get into trouble very quickly.”

While the report finds a large portion of the country is in drought, that includes all of the following states: Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and South Dakota. While parts of Iowa have seen a foot of snow or more already this winter, the report says to overcome the drought, it may take up to eight-feet of snow.

(Radio Iowa)

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INCLUDING THE CITY OF ATLANTIC; 314 AM CST MON JAN 7 2013

TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. WARMER. HIGH IN THE LOWER 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE LOWER 20S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

TUESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH AROUND 40. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

TUESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE LOWER 20S. WEST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

WEDNESDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE LOWER 30S.

THURSDAY…CLOUDY WITH A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN. HIGH AROUND 40.

FRIDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 40S.

SKYSCAN FORECAST           SATURDAY JANUARY 5, 2013

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 33. South southwest wind 10 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 9. Wind chill values as low as -5. Blustery, with a northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 29. Wind chill values as low as -5. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the afternoon.

Monday: Sunny, with a high near 39. Breezy, with a south wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 38.

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