Winter heatwaves, lack of precipitation compound effects of devastating summer droughts in Europe

Less than a year after severe droughts rocked Europe, parts of the continent are dealing with a devastating repeat.

"The situation is really very [concerning] because… it hasn't rained in the last four to five weeks in several parts of western Europe," said Andrea Toreti, co-ordinator at the European Drought Observatory.

"We see already critical conditions in terms of water content in the soil — and having seen what happened last year, we know the risk, especially for sectors such as agriculture," he said from Italy.

The lack of precipitation, mixed with a record-breaking heatwave, has caused some canals, lakes and rivers to shrink — and completely dry up in some cases.

This is impacting several sectors in France, Spain and Italy, including agriculture, energy and river transport. 

People walk from the small island of San Biagio, off Manerba del Garda, on Italy's Lake Garda, where the water level dropped to its lowest in 30 years during the winter months. (Piero Cruciatti/AFP via Getty Images)

According to Toreti, these extreme droughts could become a new normal for parts of Europe.

"This could be a look into the future … because if we do nothing in terms of mitigating climate change, then basically we could have these kind of events almost every year," he said.

"Having seen the impacts of a severe drought, you can imagine and all can understand what this means if such a drought is going to happen every year."

Toreti spoke to The Current's Matt Galloway about the severity of the droughts and the impact of human-induced climate change. Here's part of their conversation.

What are you hearing from people specifically in the agricultural sector, especially after last summer when … parts of Europe had the worst drought conditions in 500 years? What has that meant for farmers?

Well, basically, it's time to rethink and redesign some of our approaches to agriculture. 

I participated just a month ago [in] a meeting that was involving the rice producers, because there have been some test to develop and to apply new water-management strategies to avoid the peak of water [use] from the rice sector when there is also the water the highest demand from grain maize. 

These new agro-management techniques might indeed help to avoid water competition, especially in the critical part of the year.

The low water level of the Tolla lake, on the French Mediterranean Island of Corsica. (Pascal Pochard-Casabianca/AFP via Getty Images)

Of course, having such a drought already makes the applicability of such approaches difficult. So, of course, in the agricultural sector, there is really high concern because last year we had really remarkable losses.

The head of Italy's Department for Civil Protection said that Italy needs, in some ways, to start thinking about a rationing plan. What would that be? Would it mean that certain sectors in farming, as you've been hinting at, perhaps don't get the water that they've been getting in past because there's just so little water?

Yeah, there might be different, you know, approaches to these kind of restrictions.

There are already some restrictions in other countries. For instance, in some of the French departments that are currently the drought condition … you cannot use water for your garden or for washing your car or to feed your swimming pool. And something similar is already happening in Spain. So there are some measures that can be applied, of course. 

Has it affected drinking water at all?

Well, as we have seen last year when this extreme drought affected most of Europe, the drinking water was an issue for some villages and towns. But at a regional and national level, that was not the main issue. 

The almost dry riverbed of the river Po on February 21 at Ponte della Becca, in Linarolo, Italy. A lack of snow on the surrounding mountain peaks, the absence of rain and mild temperatures have caused the water level of Italy's largest lake to drop to its lowest in 3 decades during the winter months. (Piero Cruciatti/AFP via Getty Images)

How alarmed are you by this? And do you see a direct line between a changing climate and what's unfolding right now in Europe?

I mean, as a scientist, I'm trying to be as objective as possible when looking at analyzing these kind of events.

It's difficult to say … this is entirely due to climate change because, I mean, we will need to perform a dedicated study and it's really complex. 

But of course, it is true that that is in line with the expected effects of climate change, meaning an intensification of extremes and the occurrence pattern of these extremes.

But looking up at the future projections using model simulations, we indeed estimate this kind of increase in the frequency of extreme drought.

Produced by Niza Lyapa Nondo. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.