“It’s torched up, there’s nothing left.”

A dome of heat and sunshine will stay put this week across Texas, robbing any moisture left in the ground; however, most of the damage is already done and the agriculture industry is reeling.

“It’s torched up; there’s nothing left,” said Dale Mohler, Senior Meteorologist and Agriculture Expert, when asked about the Texas drought and agriculture situation.

Agriculture accounted for $99.1 billion of Texas’s $1.1 trillion economy, or 8.6 percent, in 2007, the most recent year data on the food and fiber was available from the extension service according to the Associated Press.

Due to drought conditions in areas of the Blacklands, non-irrigated corn and soybeans were baled for hay, the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin stated. Calves died in some areas of southern Texas due to very hot temperatures.

The crop and livestock losses could be the worst the state has seen – perhaps twice the previous single-year record of $4.1 billion set in 2006, David Anderson, an economist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service told the Associated Press.

Furthermore, 100-degree heat is set to scorch most of the state through the latter part of August leaving no hope to the agriculture industry. Dallas is closing in on the longest stretch of days for 100-degree temperatures, which is 42 days set during the blistering summer of 1980, spanning June 23 through Aug. 3, 1980. This record is set to be tied then broken this Friday and Saturday.

A high-pressure area, frequently associated with abundant sunshine and dry weather, has persisted over the southern Plains this summer. No major changes are expected through the end of this month.

Areas farther north, including Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kan., will see periodic relief through the end August thanks to cool fronts moving south through Oklahoma and Kansas.