Wisconsin escapes extreme drought

Drought-plagued Midwest farming states got little benefit from the massive storm that pounded the Eastern Seaboard this week, although the nation's worst drought in decades appears to be easing in some areas.

The U.S. Drought Monitor's weekly update posted Thursday shows there are no longer areas of extreme drought in Wisconsin, but many areas of far southern Wisconsin and western Wisconsin are still suffering severe drought.

Sixty percent of the land in the lower 48 states is experiencing some degree of drought as of Tuesday. That's down nearly 2 percentage points, taking into account much of Sandy's fallout.

Dry conditions continued easing in Iowa, North Dakota and Illinois, although far too late to help the corn and soybean crops, which are nearly completely harvested.

The federal government says 88 percent of this year's winter wheat crop had been planted as of Monday. That's 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average.