On my way to Fool HQ Monday morning, I hadn't been outside of my
apartment for more than two minutes before I started sweating
through my shirt. Unless you're from Maine, Florida, or the
Upper Northwest, you're likely dealing with an equally
uncomfortable situation. And along with the excessive heat has
come unusually dry conditions.  As you can see below, the vast
majority of America is in the middle of the worst drought since
1956. The darker the color -- orange, red, or purple -- the
worse the drought is.   Source: NOAA  But the effects of
droughts don't necessarily play out as you'd expect. Take corn,
for instance -- the crop is used in a dizzying array of
products, from corn syrup to livestock feed to ethanol. One look
at where our corn belt is located and you'll see that supply is
going to be far tighter than in a normal year.   Source: USDA,
data for 2010.  Though certain sections of Minnesota are
actually getting a steady drizzle, the same can't be said for
the rest of the Midwest or Great Plains stat