Record-setting high temperatures and dry weather have affected nearly half of Europe in recent weeks, drying up bodies of water, damaging crops, prompting water restrictions, sparking wildfires, and more. Reservoir and river levels have dropped to record lows, affecting navigation and exposing long-submerged structures. July was the driest month on record for France and the hottest month in Spain since 1961. Gathered below are recent images from England, France, Spain, Germany, and other European countries hit by a series of heat waves this summer.
Photos: Severe Drought in Europe
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![People walk around and look at the ruins of an old church in a reservoir with low water.]()
Read moreVisitors walk past an 11th-century church that is completely visible due to the drought in the Sau reservoir, currently at 37 percent capacity, on August 13, 2022, in Vilanova de Sau, Spain. Spain's water resources, which are largely devoted to the irrigation of agricultural land, face an uncertain future as 75 percent of the country is at risk of desertification. #
Manuel Medir / Getty -
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![A cow grazes in a field of very dry grass.]()
Read moreA cow grazes the parched grass of a meadow as a heat wave hits Europe, in Forest-en-Cambresis, France, on August 8, 2022. #
Pascal Rossignol / Reuters -
![A view of Cologne, Germany, along a river with very low water]()
Read moreThe Rhine River is pictured with low water in Cologne, Germany, on August 10, 2022. #
Martin Meissner / AP -
![A photograph of dry, curled leaves hanging from a tree branch]()
Read moreThis photograph taken on August 6, 2022, shows leaves changing color earlier than seasonally normal at the Parc de Saint-Cloud near Paris, France. #
Julien De Rosa / AFP / Getty -
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![A nighttime view of a wildfire burning on a hillside]()
Read moreA wildfire burns in Bushat, Shkodër, Albania, on August 3, 2022. #
Florion Goga / Reuters -
![An aerial view of stone walls—the ruins of a village flooded more than 60 years ago]()
Read moreAn aerial view of the partially flooded village of Vilarinho da Furna in Campo de Gerês, Portugal, on August 8, 2022. At the end of 1960, the historic village was flooded after the construction of a dam, but in recent years, rains have decreased and temperatures have risen, bringing almost all of the village back above water in the summertime. #
Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty -
![A small sailboat sits on the dry sloped shore of a reservoir with very low water.]()
Read moreA boat lies high and dry on the shore of La Viñuela reservoir during a severe drought, near Malaga, Spain, on August 8, 2022. #
Jon Nazca / Reuters -
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![A person sits on a blanket in a park surrounded by very dry grass.]()
Read moreA sunbather relaxes in the heat on the scorched, dry grass of Hackney Marshes in London, England, on August 13, 2022. #
Carlos Jasso / AFP / Getty -
![A view of two very dry sunflowers]()
Read moreA picture taken on August 8, 2022, shows dry sunflowers in a field in Saint-Ciers-sur-Bonnieure, France, in a year marked by drought and heat waves. Across southwestern France, sunflowers browned by the sun bend their heads toward the ground. #
Philippe Lopez / AFP / Getty -
![A half-dozen runners climb a trail alongside a glacier high in the mountains.]()
Read moreRunners make their way along a trail beside the Tsanfleuron Glacier during the last kilometers of the 14th edition of the Glacier 3000 run above Les Diablerets on August 6, 2022. Hundreds of runners braved a lung-busting ascent into the Alps in Switzerland's Glacier 3000 Run on Saturday, albeit on a shortened course because of summer heat waves melting the ice. The race is normally run over 26.2 km but was contested on a slightly modified 25.2 km course this year owing to the glacier melting, with the last pass over its surface shortened. #
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Getty -
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![An aerial view of fire vehicles lined up on a road beside a forest fire]()
Read moreAn aerial view shows a wildfire burning near Hostens and firefighters working to extinguish it as wildfires continue to spread in the Gironde region of southwestern France, on August 12, 2022. #
SDIS 33 / Reuters -
![A firefighter leans over a temporary pool of water, splashing his face and upper body.]()
Read moreA firefighter refreshes himself in a water basin after helping extinguish a forest fire close to the German-Czech border near Schmilka, Germany, on August 2, 2022. #
Matthias Rietschel / Reuters -
![A deer stands among burned trees and scorched grass.]()
Read moreA doe walks through a burned forest following a fire in South Gironde, near Belin-Béliet, France, on August 13, 2022. #
Thibaud Moritz / AFP / Getty -
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![An aerial view of several houseboats resting on a dry riverbed]()
Read moreThis aerial photograph shows houseboats sitting in the dry riverbed of the Waal river, near Beneden-Leeuwen in the Netherlands, on August 10, 2022. Ongoing drought in the Netherlands has seen river levels fall, hindering shipping traffic. #
Rob Engelaar / ANP / AFP / Getty -
![A tractor in a field kicks up a large cloud of dust.]()
Read moreA farmer works in a dry field near Vensat, France, on August 3, 2022. #
Thierry Zoccolan / Zoccolan / AFP / Getty -
![A person wearing a rubber glove holds a small bird.]()
Read moreA caretaker holds a bird that was brought to the CSAM wildlife center because of hot weather and drought in Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, France, on August 1, 2022. #
Eric Gaillard / Reuters -
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![A goose walks on the cracked bed of a nearly dry lake.]()
Read moreA goose walks on the cracked bed of the nearly dry Lake Zicksee near Sankt Andrä, Austria, on August 12, 2022. #
Leonhard Foeger / Reuters -
![A deer stands on its hind legs, feeding on leaves in the shade beneath a tree.]()
Read moreA deer stretches in the shade to take leaves from a tree in dry grassland in London's Richmond Park on August 5, 2022. #
Toby Melville / Reuters -
![A person walks close to a wildfire at night.]()
Read moreA person walks close to a wildfire burning near Belin-Béliet, France, on August 11, 2022. #
Thibaud Moritz / AFP / Getty -
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![A large bucket hanging from a helicopter (unseen) carries water from a lake.]()
Read moreA Swiss Air Force Super Puma helicopter picks up water from Lake Montsalvens for cows in a mountain pasture amid an ongoing drought in Broc, Switzerland, on August 10, 2022. #
Denis Balibouse / Reuters -
![A person uses a tool with a long handle to scoop salt into a wheelbarrow.]()
Read moreEvan Thoby collects salt flowers in salt marshes in Batz-sur-Mer, France, on August 9, 2022. The production of salt has been exceptional this year as a result of drought and heat waves in the Pays de la Loire region of Brittany. #
Sebastien Salom-Gomis / AFP / Getty -
![An aerial view of a reservoir with very low water levels, crossed by two bridges—one modern, the other ancient and formerly submerged.]()
Read moreA member of the public crosses what was an ancient packhorse bridge, now exposed by low water levels at Baitings Reservoir in Ripponden, England, on August 12, 2022. Low water levels at the reservoir have revealed the remains of the ancient road flooded to build the reservoir in the 1950s. #
Jon Super / AP -
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![Three riders on horses pass through a park, surrounded by a cloud of dust.]()
Read moreHorses from Hyde Park Stables are surrounded by clouds of dust as they are ridden along a dry bridleway in Hyde Park on August 11, 2022, in London, England. #
Leon Neal / Getty -
![Two soldiers supervise as an excavator is used to lift a decades-old bomb from a riverbank.]()
Read moreMembers of the Italian army remove a World War II–era bomb that was discovered in the dried-up River Po, which has been suffering from the worst drought in 70 years, in Borgo Virgilio, Italy, on August 7, 2022. #
Flavio Lo Scalzo / Reuters -
![A night view of a wildfire, focused on a particular tree in the center that is burning from the inside]()
Read moreA tree burns on the inside during a wildfire in Videmonte, Celorico da Beira, Portugal, on August 11, 2022. #
Pedro Nunes / Reuters -
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![River boats navigate the center channel of a drying river.]()
Read moreTransport vessels cruise along the partially dry riverbed of the Rhine River in Bingen, Germany, on August 9, 2022. #
Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters -
![An elephant in a zoo lifts its trunk and opens its mouth as it is sprayed by water.]()
Read moreAung Bo, a 21-year-old Asian elephant, is cooled down by a keeper at Chester Zoo during a heat wave on August 11, 2022, in Chester, England. #
Christopher Furlong / Getty -
![Large stones placed in a rough circle stand amid other small rocks recently surfaced in a reservoir with low water.]()
Read moreA view of the Dolmen of Guadalperal, a megalithic monument that emerged due to drought in the Valdecañas reservoir in El Gordo, Spain, on August 13, 2022. #
Manu Fernandez / AP -
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![A sunset view of London]()
Read moreThe sun rises above the London skyline as a second heat wave is predicted for parts of England, on August 11, 2022. #
Toby Melville / Reuters -
![An aerial view of the cracked mud of a dry reservoir]()
Read moreDried and cracked mud is exposed as an ongoing heat wave causes low water levels at Pontsticill Reservoir on August 11, 2022, near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. #
Carl Court / Getty
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