destroying corn and soybean crops. something we could all be paying for at the supermarket this time next year. e chief meteorologist rick reichmuth is in the studio with us. so hot the last couple weeks that heat and no rain at all has caused it to really expand. take a look at the latest drought monitor. this coming out today by the folks from nooa. some sort of a drought. 80% of the country in at least dry conditions but almost half now at least severe drought. think about that. half the country in severe drought at this point. and the bulls eye of that is right across parts of the central plains. take a look at these images right here. this is the mississippi river, shepard. >> wow. >> one year ago that we were talking about the major flooding, historical crests. >> shepard: i was there. >> on the mississippi river. now we are talking about barges can't get upstream in some cases because the drought is so bad. go back to the weather maps real quickly. just want to show you.