Drought holds its grip as harvest ends

The worst U.S. drought in decades showed little sign of easing last week as farmers closed out their corn and soybean harvests and turned their attention to winter wheat, which has been struggling to break through the moisture-starved soil in some states, according to a weekly report.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor update Thursday showed that just over 62 percent of the lower 48 states still was in some form of drought as of Tuesday, which was about the same as in the previous seven-day period.