(CBS/AP) MINNEAPOLIS - The drought gripping the United States is
the widest since 1956, according to new data released Monday by
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Fifty-five
percent of the continental U.S. was in a moderate to extreme
drought by the end of June, NOAA's National Climactic Data
Center in Asheville, N.C., said in its monthly State of the
Climate drought report. That's the largest percentage since
December 1956, when 58 percent of the country was covered by
drought. Last week, a government report said 2011's record
drought in Texas was made "roughly 20 times more likely" because
of man-made climate change, specifically meaning warming that
comes from greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide, CBS News
correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports. (At left, watch a "CBS
Evening News" story on the drought) The study, requested by
NOAA, looked at 50 years of weather data in Texas and concluded
that man-made warming had to be a factor in the drought. This
summer, 80 percent of the U.S. is abnor