THE 2020 DROUGHT IN THE ALPINE SPACE

Abstract

2020 ranked among the ever more frequent years when heat waves and drought in Europe also affected the Alpine space and caused great economic damage. An extremely warm winter with modest snowfall in Europe was the cause of the onset of drought in early spring in some parts of the lower Alpine space, which then intensified during the warm and dry meteorological spring. The summer months, especially July and August, brought a considerable deficit of precipitation and record air temperatures, with drought conditions further worsening in almost the entire area of France and Germany, including parts extending into the Alpine space. In some areas these conditions continued into autumn; in France until October. In addition to the exceptional agricultural drought, part of the Alpine space was dominated by hydrological drought, which was reflected in low water levels and low groundwater levels. With the aim of standardizing drought monitoring and impact data collection, as well as finding smart drought management solutions in the Alpine space, the Alpine Drought Observatory (ADO) project was launched in 2019, the results of which will be available in 2022. One far-reaching goal of the project is to raise awareness of citizens about drought in the Alpine space, an area in which drought was not an issue in the past but will have to be faced more frequently in the future. The article analyzes the meteorological situation during the 2020 drought in Europe, with an emphasis on the Alpine space, using various drought indicators, and evaluates the characteristics of droughts in the Alpine space in the past and the outlook for the future. The article also discusses the impacts of the 2020 drought on various economic activities; the largest proportion of the consequences of the drought was recorded in agriculture (48%) and water supply (23%). Due to the hydrological drought the proportion of consequences on water transport (17%) was higher than normal.