<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/23/climate-crisis-heat-sucking-soils-dry-extreme-drought-europe-analysis>
"Extreme heat supercharged by the climate crisis is sucking Europe dry in
summer and intensifying the drought hitting the continent, a scientific
analysis has found.
Record-breaking heatwaves meant the hot atmosphere strongly evaporated water
from rivers, lakes, soils and plants – conditions made 80 times more likely by
global heating in western Europe and 40 times more likely in eastern Europe,
the study showed. The level of soil dryness in the west was made five times
more likely by the pollution from fossil fuels in the west, and 11 times more
likely in the east.
Droughts have usually been linked to low rainfall, but western Europe’s most
recent winter was a wet one. The scientists said the climate crisis was
redefining drought in Europe, with high temperatures the key factor this
summer. Today’s drought in western Europe is classified as “extreme” but would
have been “moderate” in the world before the climate crisis, according to the
analysis.
The drought was assessed until the end of June, early in the summer, but is
already having major impacts. Many countries have implemented emergency
restrictions on water use, with most parts of southern England now under a
hosepipe ban.
Deadly wildfires have raged through Spain and France and farmers have been hit
hard, facing some of the driest soils on record. About 9m tonnes of grain are
expected to be lost across Europe, with the worst maize harvest in 50 years
expected in France, and Romanian farmers losing over a million hectares of
crops.
Rivers are running low across Europe, cutting the generation of clean
hydropower and restricting cargo ships. The Rhine at Lobith in the Netherlands
is now lower than the minimum level seen in the hot summer of 1976. The
scientists warned that this disruption could push up the price of food and
energy, hitting low-income households hardest.
Pontoon-style houseboats rest on the muddy bottom of a dried-up river with just
a narrow channel of water in the centre.
The researchers said the link between the human-caused climate crisis and the
drying of European summers was strong. “We now see an enhanced tendency for
unusual soil drying already in spring, before summer has even begun,” said Dr
Dominik Schumacher, at ETH Zurich. “That is our own doing: as temperatures
climb, the atmosphere’s thirst increases quickly, sucking moisture out of
rivers, lakes, reservoirs and the soil. If you have increasingly hot air, it
will suck the soils dry.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
