BRUSSELS — The spring drought plaguing Europe since March is worsening and spreading to more countries, the European Commission’s scientific service warned today.
A lack of rainfall and warmer than usual weather have dried out soils and sapped rivers across large stretches of Central and Eastern Europe, including the continent’s grain production powerhouses Poland and Ukraine.
Dry conditions are starting to spread to almost every corner of the continent, with little relief in sight, the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) said in a new report.
“Central, eastern, and south-eastern Europe, as well as the eastern Mediterranean region, are experiencing broadening warning drought conditions. Similar conditions are emerging in north-western Europe,” they write. The “warning” stage is the second of three drought development categories used by the JRC’s European Drought Observatory.
In the EU, only the Iberian peninsula, southern France and most of Italy have been spared so far, according to the observatory’s latest update. In contrast, parts of Cyprus, Greece and the Balkans, as well as Turkey, have reached the red “alert” stage.
Forecasts for the coming months suggest higher than usual temperatures up to July, the scientists say. Rainfall predictions are less clear, though some forecasts point to drier conditions over large parts of northern Europe, including the United Kingdom, parts of Germany and the Benelux countries, the JRC report notes.
While other factors such as water mismanagement contribute to dry conditions, droughts are predicted to become more frequent and intense in Europe as a result of climate change.