Hot temperatures are set to return to northwest Europe in July, at a time when some parts of the continent are already under drought warning.
Thermometers are expected to rise to above-average levels in the UK, Germany and parts of France throughout July, according to meteorologists surveyed by Bloomberg. A wave of warm, dry weather will settle in after a few days of sparse rain and some wind in the first half of the month.
“Many areas of northern Europe — including the British Isles — are now in drought warning conditions with soil moisture deficits,” said Amy Hodgson, a meteorologist at forecaster Atmospheric G2. “Little significant relief in this is forecast through July with drier than normal conditions forecast for July as a whole, except for a wetter first week of the month across northern Europe.”
Solar power generation is also expected to pick up to levels slightly above normal after lagging at the beginning of the month.
While hot weather conditions are due to settle in for the last leg of the month, meteorologists say records aren’t expected to be broken. Europe experienced its hottest summer ever in 2022, with energy grids strained by demand for cooling, droughts upending agricultural output and disruption to the transport of good across the Rhine River.
Temperatures could turn out to be hotter based off a stronger influence from the warm Atlantic, according to Maxar Technology Inc. In the UK, where the government is stepping up planning around securing water supplies due to rising demand and hot weather, the hottest June on record is set to be logged.
Water levels at a chokepoint on the Rhine, Europe’s busiest commercial waterway, have fallen to a seasonal low, raising fears of a repeat of last year, when the river was left effectively unnavigable.
