As concerns grow over water supplies in parts of Europe, which are still recovering from last year’s extreme drought, France has had no rain for more than a month.
With rainfall of less than one millimeter per day since January 21 across the country, the Meteo France weather service, quoted by the AFP news agency, said the absence of rain equals the record set in the spring of 2020.
Now, it has been more than 30 days without rain, something “never seen” since there are records. The previous record was 22 days in 1989.
January was the third warmest month on record in Europe, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Monitoring Service, one of the six information services of the European Union’s Earth Observation programme. On New Year’s Day, temperatures reached record highs in some parts of the continent.
In Spain, one of the European countries most exposed to the risk of drought, the current water reserves are also concerned about the lack of rain. Barcelona and several places in the northeastern region of Catalonia have enacted water restriction measures, such as a ban on the use of potable water for washing the outside of houses or cars and filling swimming pools, and reducing the amount of water used for irrigation. In this country, the record for days without rain is 79 days, in 1962.
In Italy, the warmer climate has reduced the amount of snow and water resources. The Italian Alps have 53 percent less snow than usual and the flow of the Po River has approached record lows in at least two cities.
Source: TSF
