Spain faces one of driest years on record

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain is in the midst of the fourth-driest year on record, the country’s meteorological agency AEMET said on Tuesday.

Over the last nine months, it has rained 25% less than normal across the country.

At this time of year, the country has only been drier in 1999, 2005, and 2012 since record-keeping began in 1961.

As a consequence, drought is beginning to threaten parts of the country as Spain’s reservoirs are just 46% full, compared to the ten-year average of 66% for this time of year.

In parts of Castille and Leon, the local government has declared an “exceptional situation” due to drought, stoking fears that farmers may have to limit the amount of water for key crops like beets and corn.

One town in the region of Extremadura, where the reservoir is just 18% full, has already opted not to fill up its municipal swimming pools, despite the heat.

Likewise, limits have already been added in the north of Cordoba, impacting crops like almonds.

A study published on Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests that climate change has made the Iberian Peninsula comprising Spain and Portugal the driest in the last 1,200 years.

Scientists say that’s because the Azores High, a semi-permanent center of high atmospheric pressure found in the Atlantic that acts as a “gatekeeper” for rainfall in Europe, has expanded as the planet has warmed.

The scientists found that extremely large Azores highs, which have become significantly more common in the industrial era, push rainfall north toward the UK and are linked to drier conditions in the Iberian Peninsula.

The authors also warn that the dry spell will continue to intensify across Spain and Portugal, which they estimate will see a 10-20% drop in winter rainfall this century. This, in turn, makes the agricultural industries in the two countries “some of the most vulnerable in Europe.”

At COP26, nations re-committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and agreed to submit more ambitious climate plans by September.

The plan included reducing the use of coal, which is responsible for around 40% of annual CO2 emissions.

However, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing gas crisis have forced many large nations such as Germany to re-activate old coal plants.