KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor is warning that climate change will have drastic long-term impacts on agriculture throughout the state.

Don Wilhite outlined the consequences for an audience at a Nebraska Farmers Union convention.

Wilhite says climate models predict that the unusually hot and dry summer of 2012 will become the average conditions for Nebraska by the last quarter of this century.

Wilhite notes that in the summer of 2012, McCook had 37 days with high temperatures of more than 100 degrees. The long-term average for the season is around 11 days. He says groundwater levels in some areas of Nebraska dropped 5 to 12 feet.

Wilhite is the lead author of “Understanding and Assessing Climate Change: Implications for Nebraska.”