still people who are not convinced of the science of climate change, even people who run for office who want to lead this country. when you see those extremes, what is the most effective argument other than science to show what s happening here, why we have this situation? first of all, i think it s so terrific to be able to give the broader climate contrast to these weather events because we have really compartmentalized the weather. that really helps folks connect the dots on this issue, because most americans still think of global warming or climate change affecting polar bears or the arctic and not affecting us here in our own country. and we were just talking about the weather in london, they are also experiencing extreme weather, one of the coolest, wettest summers they have seen. very, very different than in the u.s. we re thoughts and prayers
more than half of our country, counties in 26 states have declared disaster areas. look at all those red spots on that screen there. crops are drying out, lake beds drying out and ranchers are selling off herds of cattle as green fields wither. joining me now is chief climb toll gist for climate central, she s also the author of the book the weather of the future. it makes me afraid to ask, because it seems of course heidi that every year, people ask is this the direction? look at what s happening here, these extremes and now this heat this season. farmers were incredibly hopeful back in march, because the summer is a story of moving from heaven to hell, farmers planted more corn than they ever had since the 1930s, commodity prices were high, march was mild, they planted early, the usda forecast a bumper crop. 15 billion bushels of corn and
by the time mid-may arrived we saw this really sharp transition. was there no weather trend that indicated that we would be in this situation? we had a la nina in place s generally indicative of a drought. is conditions were in place, and farmers were really hopeful back in the spring. but when june and july rolled around, 55% of the lower 48 in a moderate to extreme drought. your book is title the weather of the future i imagine people come to you all the time and say what is the future here? what is the answer. it death means more extremes, we re talking heat exstreams, wildfire extremes. obviously you know there are