The hottest days of summer are still weeks away, but Portugal is already shrivelling up due to excessive heat and inadequate rain.
The country has declared severe and extreme drought across 40% of its territory.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food, Maria do Céu Antunes, announced on May 8th that she had signed an emergency declaration due to the climate conditions that are particularly severe in the southern part of the country. The official declaration of drought opens up the possibility of receiving emergency funds from the European Union to assist farmers. In a press release, Maria do Céu Antunes said:
This meteorological situation strongly affects agricultural activity and farmers’ income. It is of utmost importance to recognize this reality so that we can help farmers. It is a situation that we signalled last week, in Luxembourg, at the last Agrifish meeting, and we expect firm support from the Commission to face this structural situation.
The document was signed on Friday, May 5th, after the ministry had received data from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) verifying that there had been no rain in the last two months, but three heat waves in the month of April with “average and maximum temperatures well above normal.”
Spain is also experiencing severe drought. According to the farmers’ association COAG, 60% of the Spanish countryside is already suffocating in the dry heat, causing irreversible losses of 3.5 million hectares of rain-fed cereal crops.
Data from the EU’s Copernicus observatory shows that temperatures across southwestern Europe were above average in April, with Spain and Portugal experiencing the warmest April on record. The eastern Pyrenees near the Mediterranean Sea, which span Spain and France, is one of the areas most deeply affected by the hot, dry spring.
France has joined Spain and Portugal in asking the EU for emergency funds to address farm losses. A response is still pending.
Though this is the second year in a row for Spain, Portugal, and parts of France to be hit by exceptionally hot, dry weather, other regions of Europe are this spring escaping the extreme highs that marked the warmer months across the continent.
Also, according to Copernicus, the UK and southeast Europe have registered lower-than-average temperatures this spring. Outside of Europe, temperatures have also been above normal in parts of Africa, Central Asia, Japan, and North America, while India and Australia have reported cooler-than-normal temperatures.
