For the Sweltering, Little Relief in Sight No one living in America's heartland needs an expert to tell them that it's hot and dry out there. But that's the message from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration. On Thursday, NOAA released its United States and global climate report for June along with a three-month precipitation and temperature outlook. Although predictions get shakier further out, the gist was that there's no relief on the radar. "The outlook calls for not a lot of improvement in the near future," said Kelly Helm Smith, a drought resource specialist with the National Drought Mitigation Center. And it's still relatively early in the growing season, so there's time for a lot more impacts to develop. Nationally, it was the 14th-warmest June, with 170 heat records broken or tied. Colorado experienced its warmest June on record, and seven other states experienced a June that ranks among their 10 hottest. As for the drought, it was the 10th-driest June and so far the 16th driest year on record, with drought conditions recorded in one-half of the lower 48 states and abnormally dry-to-drought conditions in more than 80 percent. The report highlighted the potentially devastating effect of the drought on the nation's major agricultural crops. Drought conditions are reported in 76 percent of the places where corn fields are currently planted in the United States, for example. The Department of Agriculture has consequently cut its predictions for the 2012 corn crop by 12 percent, or 1.82 billion bushels. The drought has been likened to that of 1988, which was the last time that a drought struck the nation's corn belt, although the next six weeks will determine which was more economically damaging. The U.S.D.A. has also announced a streamlined disaster declaration process for 1,000 counties in 29 states, making assistance virtually automatic for any county suffering from drought for eight weeks or more. Looking ahead to August, NOAA said there was a higher-than-usual likelihood of above-normal temperatures for a large swath of the country, especially eastern and central states. Precipitation is expected to be below normal from the Mississippi valley to the center of the country and then northwestward to the Great Plains. ""We are not predicting significant relief," said Dan Collins, NOAA's seasonal forecaster. He also said the agency expected the drought to spread to the north and east of areas already afflicted. "Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, northern Michigan and the Dakotas may all be affected," he said.