its worst drought in 500 years. That is the dire assessment of the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s scientific advisory body. According to its latest report, published on August 22nd, nearly half of Europe’s land mass is now in drought. That is because the continent received just 20% of its usual rainfall last winter and spring. The dry conditions have coupled with extreme heat this summer. Temperatures in July were 0.
Other parts of the world are experiencing drought, too. A heat wave in China has persisted for a record 73 days. In Gao, a county in Sichuan province, temperatures reached 43.5°C on August 21st. Rainfall in the Yangtze river basin, the world’s third-longest river system, is the lowest since records began in 1961. Vast swathes of America are also parched. Some 130m people in the country are now affected by drought, a 70% increase compared with last year.
The drought conditions are perhaps most noticeable among the world’s river systems. An analysis by Dominic Royé of the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain finds that river levels are severely depleted relative to their historic average. According to data provided by the’s Earth-observation programme, Copernicus, rivers in south-western America were 35% lower in June to August when compared with their 1980-2021 average.
Drying rivers have numerous knock-on effects for both the environment and the economy. The river Po in northern Italy has been so low that sea water has begun intruding inland. Despite recent rains, parts of the Rhine in Germanyfor large ships. The lack of water in France has closed power stations and more than 100 municipalities have experienced disruptions to their supply of drinking water.
Unfortunately, there is unlikely to be much respite soon. Meteorologists at Copernicus expect river flows to remain low across much of the northern hemisphere over the coming months. Although there is some hope that the weakening ofnext year could restore rain to its normal patterns, the long-term outlook remains dire because of anthropogenic climate change.
Graphics?
You can steal water from the river Nile as well 😄
European rain in Pakistan