Dry spring ignites fears of yet another German summer drought

German farmers are fearing yet another dry summer as the country has barely experienced any rainfall since the middle of March, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. It is, however, too early to reliably predict whether record-hot temperatures of the last two years will continue, Mathias Herbst of Germany's National Meteorological Service's (DWD) told the media. "If it continues as dry as it is now, there will be another drought," he said, but temperatures could still change. The month of April has generally been "too dry" over the last 11 years, DWD wrote last week on Twitter. Although this could not be directly linked to climate change, the overall trend towards longer-lasting climate conditions could, said Herbst. Normal amounts of rainfall in February, however, means that many parts of Germany are in a better position to take on another drought than they were in 2019.

In 2019, Germany experienced its third-warmest year since the beginning of regular measurements in 1881, while 2018 was Germany's warmest year ever recorded. Droughts have led rivers to run dry and caused "immense damage" to the country's forests, leading agriculture minister Julia Klöckner to earmark 800 million euros to make them "climate-resilient".