Europe Plagued by ‘One of the Worst Droughts since 2003’

Severe drought has severely affected Europe this summer

Parts of western, central and eastern Europe could continue to experience severe drought conditions in the foreseeable future, forecasters have warned.

Severe drought has affected much of the European continent since June 2015, one of the worst since the drought and heat wave of summer of 2003, according to the latest report by the JRC’s European Drought Observatory (EDO). “The drought, which particularly affects France, Benelux, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, northern Italy and northern Spain, is caused by a combination of prolonged rain shortages and exceptionally high temperatures,” said the report.

The prolonged rainfall shortage (since April) and the temperature anomalies in July caused a severe drought which affected soil moisture content and vegetation conditions. Furthermore, the areas with the largest rainfall deficits also recorded exceptionally high maximum daily temperatures: in some cases these reached record values.

Another characteristic of this period was the persistence of the thermal anomalies: in the entire Mediterranean region, and particularly in Spain, the heat wave was even longer than that of 2003, with maximum daily temperatures consistently above 30°C for durations of 30 to 35 days (even more than 40 days in Spain).

 

Areas with the lowest soil moisture content since 1990 in July 2015 (in red) and in July 2003 (in blue). Source: JRC-EDEA database (EDO)

Temperature Analysis
Almost the entire European continent has been experiencing temperatures that were significantly above the seasonal norm since the beginning of June 2015. Spain, Benelux, Germany and France recorded maximum daily temperatures of up to 10°C above normal values in June., said the report. “Conditions got even worse in July, with absolute maximum daily values above 34-35°C in almost the entire EU and absolute maximum temperatures that were well above 40°C in many areas (e.g. 47.3°C in Apulia, 46.5°C in Andalucia, 46.2°C in southern Bulgaria and outhern Romania, 45.7°C in Alentejo, 44.7° in Sicily). Moreover, several areas in Germany, Benelux, France, Spain, Italy and even in Austria, the Czech Republic, the UK and Sweden recorded their highest maximum daily temperatures for July since 1975.”

Drought News August 2015 by EDO is posted at

Click to access EDODroughtNews201508.pdf

July Warmest Month Ever Recorded Globally

2015 the hottest year on record (so far)

Global: The combined average temperature over land and ocean surfaces for July 2015 was the highest since record-keeping began 136 years ago. At 0.81°C (1.46°F) above the 20th century average of 15.8°C (60.4°F), it surpassed the previous record set in July 1998 by 0.08°C (0.14°F), said NOAA.

As July is climatologically the warmest month of the year globally, this monthly global temperature of 16.61°C (61.86°F) was also the highest among all 1627 months in the record that began in January 1880. The July temperature is currently increasing at an average rate of 0.65°C (1.17°F) per century.

• July average temperature across global land surfaces was 0.96°C (1.73°F) above the 20^th century average, making it the sixth warmest July on record.

• Global sea surface temperature in July was 0.75°C (1.35°F) above the 20^th century average of 16.4°C (61.5°F), the highest departure not only for July, but for any month on record. The 10 highest monthly departures from average for the oceans have all occurred in the past 16 months (since April 2014).

The first seven months of 2015 were the warmest such period on record for global land and ocean surfaces, at 0.85°C (1.53°F) above the 20^th century average, surpassing the previous record set in 2010 by 0.09°C (0.16°F).

• Five months this year, including the past three, have been record warm for their respective months. January was the second warmest January on record and April third warmest.

• The average global sea surface temperature of +0.67°C (+1.21°F) for the year-to-date was the highest for January–July in the 136-year period of record, surpassing the previous record of 2010 by 0.06°C (0.11°F). The average land surface temperature of +1.34°C (+2.41°F) was also the highest on record, surpassing the previous record of 2007 by 0.15°C (0.27°F).

Nine of the 10 warmest months since records began in 1880 (1,627 months ago) have occurred since 2005, reported NOAA.

Selected National Temperature Highlights

The UK experienced its warmest July day ever on July 1, 2015 when temperatures climbed to 36.7°C near London, UK Met Office reported.

Austria recorded its hottest July since national records began in 1767. The average temperature was 3.0°C (5.0°F) higher than the 1981–2010 average, beating the previous record of +2.7°C (+4.9°F) set in 2006.

• Temperature reached a high of 38.2°C (100.8°F) in Innsbruck, highest in recorded history, on July 7^th.

France had its third warmest July in its 116-year period of record, with the overall temperature climbing 2.1°C (3.8°F) above the 1981–2010 average. Localized departures of more than 4°C (7°F) were recorded in the Massif Central to the North East and the Alps, said MeteoFrance.

Middle East experienced one of the most extreme heat indices ever recorded anywhere on July 31^st, due to a high pressure dome that resided over the region.  The city of Bandar Mahshahr, Iran, recorded the air temperature of 46°C (115°F) together with a dew point of 32°C (90°F) resulting in a heat index of 74°C (165°F). The highest recorded heat index of 81°C (178°F) was in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on July 8^th, 2003.

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for July 2015, published online August 2015, retrieved on August 20, 2015 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201507.