National Geographic: Woe is the Mississippi. A barge carrying light crude hit a bridge near Vicksburg, Mississippi, on Sunday, causing an oil spill.
But if you think that is the worst thing that's happened this winter to the river, you'd be wrong.
The middle Mississippi-the 200-mile (322-kilometer) stretch from St. Louis to Cairo, Illinois-is experiencing drought conditions unrivaled in the last 50 years. That's been the case since November.
From December to March, this part of the river is always at its lowest...