Drought

California's rainfall last year was the lowest since 1877, it hasn’t rained yet this "rainy season," fire watch started in January, and there's almost no Sierra snowpack to melt. There's a drought emergency in this giant agricultural state.

Austin has banned watering lawns and raised rates for city water. So affluent residents are drilling private wells.

Drought conditions from last year in the U.S. are likely to continue. Commentator Robert Glennon says that spells trouble for the nation's groundwater supply.

Water laws in the West often give priority to whose who used a water source first, often farmers. Farmers in New Mexico are fighting to regain their place at the head of the line.

We check in with Ken Lenox, cattle rancher in Rolla, Missouri about the lingering effects of last summer's drought.

After months of drought, barge line operators on the Mississippi River celebrate the rain.

One stretch of the river is closed during the day so Army Corps of Engineers can blast away rock just below the low water.

Losses from hurricanes, tornadoes, drought and other severe weather events totaled more than any other year besides 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina.

Continued drought along the Mississippi River is creating problems for barge lines and the goods they ship.