Extreme heat doesn't go away: weather forecasters warn of drought threat in Europe
Drought could hit around 60% of the EU and UK, exacerbated by record heat in Europe this summer caused by climate change, according to new research from the European Drought Observatory.
Axios reports this.
EU climate change watchdog Copernicus notes "increased fire risk due to lack of rain and associated dry vegetation combined with high temperatures" as wildfires continue to rage across Europe.
Dry conditions are expected to persist in many European countries in August and September, exacerbating “an already very critical situation,” the European Commission's European Drought Observatory noted in July.
According to the observatory, this will “worsen the severity of the drought and its impact on agriculture, energy and water supplies.”
The European Drought Observatory examined data over a 10-day period towards the end of July and found that by mid-month, 45% of the EU was under a drought warning and 15% was on a "red alert", with severe water shortages.
In the UK, where Met Office data shows the English regions of East Anglia, the south east and south facing a dry spell in July due to a historic heat wave, the country's Center for Ecology and Hydrology warned the drought was likely to persist.
“Droughts have become our reality this summer,” Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, wrote on Twitter.
Countries including France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands are facing water shortages and riverbeds across Europe are drying up. Drought conditions have serious impacts on energy production, agriculture and river transport.
Thus, 100 municipalities in France do not have running water, the Rhine level in Germany and France is so low that the transport of goods is at risk, and the Netherlands “officially faces a water shortage,” Sinkevičius noted.
“Restoring nature is the best solution to change this,” he added.
Another heat wave is forecast to hit north-west and central Europe this week.
The Met Office has issued a yellow heat warning for much of southern England and parts of Wales from Thursday to Sunday, following its first extreme heat warning last month.
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