Current Texas Weather

Billy Bob Brown doesn't have to look to Wall Street to find a fine financial mess in progress. There's one brewing a lot closer to home.

As a fourth generation grain farmer near his hometown of Panhandle, most of Brown's time is spent tending thousands of acres of wheat and irrigated corn. And that in itself has proven harder than usual this year.

Coming off the record rains of 2007, Brown rang in the new year in the midst of a dry spell that withered his wheat prospects and forced him to replant several fields. That dry spell gave way to some of the harshest storms his area has seen in years, hammering fields with hail, unexpected deluges and fierce winds.

Read the complete story and more in this series...