Dramatic drought: Is Europe drying out?

It hasn't rained in France for more than a month — the longest winter dry spell since records began in 1959. The main reason is high pressure areas over Western Europe that push the rain clouds away. Climate change could make drought in Europe a permanent phenomenon. Here, at Montjean-sur-Loire, France's longest river, the Loire, has already almost run dry — and it's only March.

The water level in the 140-hectare (346-acre) Lac du Chambon reservoir in the French Alps is already very low. France gets 15% of its energy from hydroelectric plants like this one, and is increasingly worried about another impending energy crisis. In the summer of 2022, some of France's nuclear plants had to be shut down temporarily, because there wasn't enough water in the rivers to cool them.

In Toulouse, the Pont des Catalans rises up out of the Garonne River. Already, in some parts of France, no water is coming out of the taps. The government has imposed immediate measures to prepare for what threatens to be another summer of drought. In some French regions, people are already banned from filling pools or washing cars. A national water-saving plan is expected later this month.

In February, the gondolas in Venice sat in the mud at low tide, and some of the smaller canals were no longer navigable. Since then, the situation in the city on the lagoon has normalized somewhat. Last year, Italy's agricultural crops were seriously affected by drought, particularly in the north — and there are fears the damage this summer will be even worse.

The whole of northern Italy is suffering from drought. Lake Maggiore is reported to be only 38% full. Snowfall in the Italian Alps this winter was only half the long-term average, meaning there has scarcely been any recovery since last summer, which saw the worst drought in 70 years. The ongoing drought is also expected to have a negative effect on tourism.

At the end of February, the water in Italy's Lake Garda was so low that people could walk across to the small island of San Biagio without wetting their feet. There has been so little snow and rain this winter that water levels in Italy's biggest lakes have dropped to their lowest in 30 years. Like in France, the Italian government is also planning to impose measures to combat the water shortage.

Sandbanks rear up out of the Rhine near Oberwesel in Rhineland-Palatinate. The river is unusually low for this time of year; here too, in addition to low rainfall, the situation has been exacerbated by the lack of snowmelt from the Alps. Last winter in Germany was the 12th in a row that was too warm. "Climate change is not letting up," Uwe Kirsche of the German Meteorological Service told dpa.

On the island of Corsica, the water in the Lac de Tolla is also extremely low. Even countries that normally get a lot of rain have experienced drought this winter. This February was the driest in Britain in 30 years. Experts are very worried about what lies ahead this summer.