Without water? EU experts say drought in Europe is worst in 500 years

It looks like the worst drought in at least 500 years, EK Johannes Bahrke told the afternoon meeting. According to him, this is a preliminary assessment, which will confront you with data for the entire summer. Prohlen followed up with Monday’s announcement First EC research based on Drought Observatory (GDO) data.

First, the Joint Research Center (JRC) pointed out that drought warning conditions exist in 47 percent of EU countries, based on observations from the first ten days of August. A state of emergency has been applied to 17 percent of the Union, the highest among countries that have declared a GDO.

According to the JRC, drought has a strong negative impact on the yield of summer crops. The worst impact is expected for kukui, lentil and sunflower, which are 16, 15 and 12 per cent lower than the last five-year average, respectively.

The drought that has plagued many parts of Europe since the start of the year has flared and burned since early August. The worst situation will be in areas affected by drought in 2022, namely the north of Italy, the south-east of France and some areas of Hungary and Romania, the assessment continues. Conversely, in some areas, including the south, ash is observed to be locally grafted. According to the current GDO map, the Czech Republic is relatively mild due to drought.

According to the JRC, the Iberian Peninsula and parts of Croatia can expect exceptional dryness in the first weeks of autumn.

For the rest of the EU, however, most forecasters are predicting near-normal conditions for the next two months. EC researchers add that a full recovery from the accumulated deficit in half a year may not be worthwhile, but it could reduce the critical conditions in many European regions and affected areas.