Forecasters are predicting an extremely dry summer in the mid-west and plains drawing comparisons to the 'Dust Bowl' era of the 1930's.
The Pennsylvania-based forecasting service AccuWeather.com predicts a high-pressure system will be parked across the central United States much of the summer. The system would lead to scorching-hot days and prevent moisture from coming into the region — something that in turn causes even higher temperatures.
Putting aside the shaky nature of any weather forecast--the only forecasts that make economic forecasts look accurate by comparison--the economic consequences of another 'Dust Bowl' are likely to be much less severe than in 1930.
In 1930, agriculture made up roughly 8% of GDP and 21.5% of the workforce was employed in agriculture. Today? Agriculture makes up less than 2% of GDP and less than 1% of the U.S. workforce is employed in agriculture.
Wow, we must be much worse off with all of those agricultural employees out of work.
PS: In the comments below the article one of the commenters makes the inevitable global warming leap. How can an article comparing a forecast for future temperature to something that happened in the 1930's be used as evidence that we are experiencing unprecedented temperatures? Just wondering.
