Europe is the continent warming the fastest, and the effects of the intense heat are making themselves felt. In addition to the wildfires and heatwaves that have put several European countries under severe strain this summer, there is now a drought alert due to a lack of rainfall. The River Danube, one of Europe’s major waterways, has been at record low levels for several days. Higher-than-usual temperatures, the heatwaves that have scorched Western Europe and a persistent water shortage in the centre and east of the continent are leaving the ground parched, river ports stretched to their limits and nuclear power stations on the brink of closure.
Hungary and the other countries along the Danube are keeping a close eye on the river’s water level. “The level has risen by nine centimetres from the low recorded on Sunday, and rain is forecast in the Austrian catchment areas. The Paks turbine is operational,” the country’s Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, explained on Thursday in a Facebook post. Low water levels in the Danube as it flows through Romania are also forcing the authorities to take desperate measures. The Romanian government was working against the clock on Thursday to sink four barges filled with stones as a way of diverting water towards its only operational nuclear reactor, reports Reuters. This is expected to buy the plant a few extra days of operation; as it is currently operating below capacity, the country has been forced to impose restrictions on electricity consumption.
The European Drought Observatory considers that conditions are currently “critical across most of Europe”, and have “worsened” in central and western Europe. The alert level is a cause for concern across much of France and, above all, in central Europe and Romania.
These conditions are due to the fact that the European continent experienced above-average temperatures in July, particularly as a result of an “extensive and prolonged” heatwave at the start of the month, which moved from the Iberian Peninsula towards central and eastern Europe, according to the drought observatories of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service.
"Weather conditions in the Central European river basins, with higher temperatures and earlier snowmelt, have made them more similar to those traditionally recorded in Spain; this is why the Danube’s flow has decreased. Something similar had already occurred at certain points in December 2018”, explained to RTVE.esRafael Mujeriego, professor emeritus of Environmental Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, explained to RTVE.es.
But the Danube – the second-longest river in Europe after Russia’s Volga – is not the only watercourse at record lows: the Rhine is another European river feeling the full force of the summer, and has reached its lowest level on record in the vicinity of Cologne. Water levels in European rivers are the most visible manifestation of a trend that has become apparent over these summer months, but they are by no means the only one. The proportion of land area affected by drought in several European countries has been rising since April. This is particularly true of the countries in central Europe and France mentioned above, where the grape harvestchampagne harvest will be brought forward this year to a record-early date – 12 August – due to the heat and lack of water recorded.
By contrast, southern states that normally face more severe drought conditions – such as Italy, but particularly Greece and Spain – are still far from being alarmed. The European Commission has already warned that the forecast for the autumn is for central Europe to experience a few drier-than-normal months, whilst Mediterranean countries will face a wetter season. This turn of events is causing astonishment in countries such as the United Kingdom, where a drought has been declared across most of the country, because rainfall has been just 8 per cent of the historical average. Last July was the driest month in the country since rainfall records began – 190 years ago.
An article written by Javier Galán (RTVE), initially published on 7 August 2026, 08:04 (CEST)