Mexico Facing Worst Drought In 70 Years - 450K Cattle Dead, Corn Crop Estimates Cut 10%+

(Reuters) - Mexico is being battered its worst drought in seven decades, which has devastated farm life and is expected to continue into next year. The lack of rainfall has affected almost 70 percent of the country and northern states like Coahuila, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas have suffered the most acute water shortage.

Due to the drought and a cold snap at the start of the year, the government has cut its forecast for corn production two times in 2011. It now expects a harvest of 20 million tonnes compared to a previous estimate of 23 million.

Crops that cover tens of thousands of acres have been lost this year and roughly 450,000 cattle have died in arid pastures. Crucial dams, typically full at this time of year, are at 30 to 40 percent of capacity.

"This is very serious," Ignacio Rivera, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Reuters. "Statistics on precipitation in the country show us that this year has been the driest in the last 70 years." The country has total arable land of 22 million hectares (54.4 million acres) that can be tilled over two planting seasons while the national cattle herd last year was just over 32.6 million.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/25/us-mexico-drought-idUSTRE7AO18Q20111125?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

:sarcasm:

Given that we've had a La Nina two years in a row, it's not surprising the drought is more severe than normal. The following is an explanation of El Nino effects on weather patterns, and as stated, the effects of La Nina are the opposite in almost all cases. El Nino events bring more rain to Northern Mexico so La Nina would bring less.

http://www.knmi.nl/research/global_climate/enso/effects/#precipitation

This is the North American Drought Monitor as of the end of October:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/drought/nadm/nadm-maps.php?lang=en&year=2011&month=10&submitted=true