By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

It's not just on land where drought is taking a toll: a 100-mile stretch of the Platte River has dried up, while barges along the lower Mississippi are having to carry less cargo in order to navigate shallower water.

The Mississippi impact is one that goes far beyond the immediate area: About 60 percent of the nation's grain, 22 percent of its oil and gas, and 20 percent of the nation's coal goes down the river. Lighter barges mean longer waits for those products.

The Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with dredging parts of the river where barges ground, and business is booming.

"We're dredging around the clock," Bob Anderson, a spokesman for the Corps' Mississippi Valley District, told NBC News

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Read more here: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/03/13090325-drought-dries-up-stretch-of-platte-river-slows-barges-on-lower-mississippi?lite

This is NOT good at all, if we don't start getting lots of rain soon or have a VERY snowy winter this year we could be in very serious trouble!

Drought sends Mississippi into 'uncharted territory'

By John Yang, NBC News

TUNICA, Miss. – The drought of 2012 has humbled the mighty Mississippi River.

A year after near-historic flooding, the river’s water levels are at near-historic lows from Cairo, Ill., where the Ohio River empties into it, to New Orleans, just north of its endpoint at the Gulf of Mexico.

In July, water levels in Cairo, Memphis, Tenn., and Vicksburg, Miss., dipped below those of the historic drought of 1988. That’s affecting everything from commerce on the maritime superhighway to recreation to the drinking water in Louisiana.

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The low water levels mean that barge companies have to lighten their load by about 25 percent so the barges ride higher in the water, reducing what’s known as the barges’ “draught.”

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Already this summer, there are been 15 to 20 cases of barges running aground, according to Steve Jones, the Army Corps of Engineer’s Mississippi River navigation manager. Some cases have stalled river traffic for as much at three days. At this point in an average summer, there’d be only about eight or 10, Jones said.

And as the water drops, the river channel narrows. In some places, the Mississippi is a one-way river as barges heading north have to wait for traffic headed south, adding to the costly delays.

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The navigational hazards of the low water levels are compounded by last year’s flooding, which resulted in a great deal of soil and silt being washed into the river, altering and raising the riverbed.

Because of that sediment in a flood, “as the ceiling rises, so does the floor,” said Golding. “We’ve just dealt with a historic flood, then the water drops.… We have some 50-year guys who’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s a completely different river than anybody’s ever seen.”

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The low water levels in the Mississippi are also resulting in a wedge of salt water creeping upriver from the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the drinking water supply in New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to begin work this week on a $5.8 million underwater barrier to block the saltwater’s advance

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Read more here: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/15/13295072-drought-sends-mississippi-into-uncharted-territory?lite

Emergency well drilling brings relief to farmers stricken by drought

By Thanh Truong, NBC News

WARREN COUNTY, Mo. -- There's a desperate search for water under way throughout Missouri where 95 percent of the state is enduring extreme levels of drought. In the rural area of Truxton, farmer Rusty Lee estimates he'll likely lose 40 percent of his crops.

We walked through his withering fields where rows of yellow squash lay shriveled under the sun. Lee said he's been trying to explain the severity of the drought to his 6–year-old son William.

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He is one of more than 3,700 farmers and ranchers in Missouri who have been approved for emergency well drilling. Gov. Jay Nixon issued an executive order last month for the state to pay up to 90 percent of the cost to dig new or deeper wells for farmers severely impacted by the drought. The farmers will pay the remainder of that cost. So far, the state has set aside more than $18 million to dig these new wells.

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Read more here: http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/14/13203794-emergency-well-drilling-brings-relief-to-farmers-stricken-by-drought?lite

Coast Guard halts traffic on low-water stretch of Mississippi
From Joe Sutton, CNN

updated 10:06 AM EDT, Tue August 21, 2012

(CNN) -- An 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near Greenville, Mississippi, was closed Monday to most vessel traffic because of low water levels, idling nearly a hundred boats and barges in the stream, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

"We are allowing a limited number of vessels based on size" to attempt to pass, said New Orleans-based Coast Guard spokesman Ryan Tippets, adding that the closure was affecting 97 vessels Monday afternoon and was halting both northbound and southbound traffic.

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Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/20/us/mississippi-river-traffic/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

There ya go! Better stock up on corn meal and flour, folks 'cause the price is gonna sky rocket.

The price of coal, too, will begin to rise along with the price of steel.

Gonna be an interesting Fall, all right.

Thanks for the heads up Blue