Extreme heat is becoming the primary cause of drought in Europe.

An analysis by the scientific network World Weather Attribution published on Thursday, July 23, establishes that climate change, by intensifying heat, is accelerating the evaporation of water reserves across Europe far more than the rainfall deficit.

It is no longer the lack of rain that dictates the drought in Europe, but the heat. This is the central finding of a study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network, published Thursday, which analyzes the mechanisms at work behind the wave of drought hitting the continent this summer.

Conditions favoring water evaporation were 80 times more frequent in Western Europe and 40 times more frequent in Eastern Europe between January and June, compared to the pre-industrial era. Climate change did not cause the rainfall deficit observed between April and June, acknowledge the WWA scientists, but it directly fueled the episodes of extreme heat that deplete soils and waterways.

“Extreme heat is becoming the main driver of drought on our continent,” said Sarah Kew, a climatologist at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. “We are seeing water reserves evaporating from our soils and rivers faster than would have been the case in a world without climate change, turning what would have been manageable periods of drought into severe droughts,” she added.

The concrete consequences are multiplying across the continent. France fears a corn harvest that could be the smallest in fifty years. Romania has restricted farmers' access to irrigation water. The Netherlands declared a water shortage last week, and seven Greek islands have declared a state of emergency to preserve their water resources.

According to WWA analysis, agricultural droughts are now five times more frequent in Western Europe due to climate change, and eleven times more frequent in Eastern Europe. Warmer air prevents rain from infiltrating and remaining in the soil, profoundly altering how droughts develop across the continent.