Drought in Europe - April 2022
GDO analytical report
• A severe drought has been affecting large areas of Europe, Po and Danube river basins in particular. Dry conditions are related to a persistent lack of precipitation since December 2021 in the Southern Alps region, and to a severe lack of precipitation in the first three months of 2022 in the eastern European region.
• The severe precipitation deficit has been affecting main river discharges (Po and Danube) and their tributaries. The stored water volume for energy production is very low making difficult the optimisation of hydropower generation. Lower water availability in southern Europe makes competition for water uses harder and earlier. Winter crops in Spain and Italy are in sub-optimal conditions, and water stress has already reduced the yield potential.
• A short period of light precipitation at the beginning of April temporarily helped to limit an exacerbation of the snow deficit after the already poor snow season in the Southern Alps. On the 4th of April, the deficit compared to the 2009-2021 median conditions was -61% for the Italian Alps. The current deficit confirms extremely low accumulations. These conditions cause concerns for melting snow contribution to river discharges in late spring, increasing the likelihood of hydrological drought in the coming months.
• Drier than normal conditions are forecasted for most of southern and south-eastern Europe until June.
TORETI Andrea;
BAVERA Davide;
AVANZI Francesco;
CAMMALLERI Carmelo;
DE FELICE Matteo;
DE JAGER Alfred;
DI CIOLLO Chiara;
GABELLANI Simone;
GARDELLA Marco;
LEONI Paolo;
MAETENS Willem;
MAGNI Diego;
MANFRON Giacinto;
MASANTE Dario;
MAZZESCHI Marco;
MCCORMICK Niall;
NAUMANN Gustavo;
NIEMEYER Stefan;
ROSSI Lauro;
SEGUINI Lorenzo;
SPINONI Jonathan;
VAN DEN BERG Maurits;
2022-12-21
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC129395
978-92-76-52327-7 (online),
1831-9424 (online),
EUR 31065 EN,
OP KJ-NA-31065-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC129395,
10.2760/40384 (online),
Additional supporting files
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