A European Union body reported on Tuesday that Europe is experiencing its worst drought in at least 500 years, with two-thirds of the continent under alert or warning, decreasing inland transportation, electricity output, and food harvests.
According to the August report from the European Drought Observatory (EDO), which is under the control of the European Commission, 47% of Europe is experiencing warning conditions with a clear soil moisture deficit and 17% is experiencing alert conditions with impacted vegetation.
The research stated that as of early August, ‘the severe drought impacting many regions of Europe since the beginning of the year has been further expanding and increasing,’ and that the western Europe-Mediterranean region was projected to see warmer and drier than usual weather till November.
This summer, a large portion of Europe experienced weeks of oppressive heat, which exacerbated the drought, sparked wildfires, prompted health alerts, and increased calls for climate change mitigation.
The Commission stated in a statement that, if final data at the end of the season verified the preliminary assessment, the current drought appeared to be the worst in at least 500 years.
Post Your Comments