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At the beginning of January, 19.6% of European territory and Mediterranean coasts were affected by soil drought. Last year at the same time this value was 35.1% of the surveyed territory.
Published on 01/25/2024 07:19 Updated on 01/25/2024 07:57
Reading time: 1 min
Harvesting in Clonas-sur-Varèze (Isère), January 1, 2024. (ROMAIN DOUCELIN / HANS LUCAS / AFP)
No water shortage in sight. Soil drought fell in early January in Europe and across the Mediterranean coast to its lowest level since April 2018, according to data from the European Drought Observatory (EDO) analyzed by AFP on Wednesday, January 24.
From January 1 to 10, 2024, 19.6% of the European territory and Mediterranean coasts were affected by soil drought. This share fell below 20% for the first time in six years. At the same time last year, 35.1% of the surveyed area was affected by drought.
The European indicator, updated approximately every ten days, is based on anomalies in precipitation, soil moisture and vegetation status depending on region and climate type. On the other hand, the level of the groundwater table is not taken into account.
An improvement in France
In 2023, soil drought in Europe peaked in mid-June, affecting 49.2% of the area. At the beginning of October it reached a new peak of 42.6% before declining. Throughout last year, the indicator remained above 40% for less than three months, compared to more than seven months in 2022, which had been an exceptionally dry year.
For France, this improvement was accompanied by an improvement in the groundwater situation. According to the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM), more than half of these were above normal last December.
However, the Mediterranean, where there is a chronic lack of rain, remains in great difficulty, especially in Roussillon, where “the dryness of the soil (…) will be unprecedented until the end of January,” Météo-France warned.