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The following pictures are of the Mississippi from this year and last. The 2012 drought has lowered the river level.
2011
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2012
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The water level is down as much as 40 feet from a year ago.
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Its so dry, grass is growing on the sandbanks.
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The low water is raising hell with the river traffic. Some headlines:
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How big a deal is this? Big. ABC put the potential hit to the economy at $300Mn a day. As many as 400k jobs are in play. The have a quote from the Army Corps of Engineers suggesting the problem is not going away anytime soon.
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I was surprised to learn that 90% of the nation's waterborne commercial deliveries are on the Mississippi.
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The Army Corps got its forecast of "no relief" from NOAA. The 30 day forecast shows a continuation of the dry conditions in the center of the country. There is no reason to be optimistic looking at the 90 day outlook.
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The only winners in this story are the rail-roads. Everyone else will pay a bit more. In some cases there might be shortages (rock salt/chemicals up north). Global grain, corn and bean supplies may get disrupted. Add another few percent to the already skyrocketing price of raw food stocks.
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