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'Just the Beginning': US Drought Kills Hundreds of Thousands of
Trees Persistent lack of water continues to ravage US,
threatening trees and crops nationwide, with no end in sight The
historic drought of 2012, which continues to ravage over half of
the contiguous US, has a new legacy: the death of hundreds of
thousands of trees across the Midwest. "This is just beginning,"
said Purdue University plant pathologist Janna Beckerman. "I
suspect we'll see trees still dying for the next two or three
years." According to Beckerman, "Indiana's white cedar and
Florida cypress trees began dying in late summer [...] and
Alberta and Colorado blue spruce are succumbing now." The latest
Drought Monitor shows that 58% of the contiguous US remains in
moderate or greater drought, with this past January month
considered "the worst" since the Monitor began 13 years ago,
said climatologist Mark Svoboda. “We are going to be talking
about drought for much of 2013 as