Photo: archive, BGNES
In many countries in Europe, the winter is too warm. There is not enough snow in the Alps, and in France they are already afraid of a big drought in the summer. In Germany, meteorologists reported the 12th consecutive too warm winter.
During the past winter in Europe, there was too little rain and snowfall, and the temperatures were too high. In Germany, for example, meteorologists report that this is the twelfth winter in a row that is too warm, informs ARD. The average temperature in the country during the winter months has so far been 2.9 degrees Celsius – this is 2.7 more than the average temperature for the period from 1961 to 1990, according to data from the German Meteorological Center. Mother well.
In recent years, the trend has become increasingly clear and cannot be explained except by human-induced climate change, Peter Hofmann from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change Research told ARD. He notes that one warm winter is not a problem, “but when it comes to 12 years in a row – it’s already a concern.”
Lack of snow leads to drought in summer
In France, Italy, Switzerland and some parts of Austria, there is currently significantly less snow than is typical for this time of the year, meteorologist Klaus Hasslinger told ARD. According to the Italian environmental organization Legambiente, 50 percent less snow than usual has fallen in the Alps in recent months.
ARD also cited the head of the hydrology and climate change agency at the Snow and Avalanche Research Institute in Davos, Manuela Brunner. According to her, the lack of snow will lead to drought in summer and autumn. In her study, she found that droughts caused by a lack of winter snow were 15% greater between 1994 and 2017 than between 1970 and 1993. Bruner believes this trend will continue.
The drought in Italy is causing many problems
In a large part of Europe, it does not rain enough, explains ARD. For example, all of Northern Italy is suffering from drought.
After February did not bring much rain in Italy either, there is a risk that the food industry will reduce its production by 40 percent, writes the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica”. There has never been such a drought in this region, writes ARD.
In France, current data from the national water monitoring system show that out of 422 monitored areas with groundwater, 125 are already at a very low level, 120 – at a low level and 97 – at a moderately low level, writes ARD. After several weeks with almost no rain, the French are already fearing a second dry summer in a row.
