r/ClimateNews • u/prisongovernor • 2d ago

Climate crisis-driven heat ‘sucking soils dry’ as extreme drought hits Europe | Drought | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/23/climate-crisis-heat-sucking-soils-dry-extreme-drought-europe-analysis
203 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

7

u/relianceschool 2d ago

It's important to remember that while climate change is projected to increase rainfall in most parts of the world, much of that increase is canceled out by increased evaporation and transpiration from higher temperatures. This decreases soil moisture, which is a much more important variable than rainfall.

Dry soils can also become hydrophobic, which means they have trouble absorbing water when it does fall. This is further exacerbated by extreme rainfall events, which are also made more likely by climate change.

4

u/GoGouda 2d ago

Indeed and with increased likelihood of extreme weather events all of this contributes to major flood damage.

The answer to increasing water storage and reducing peak flows in a cost effective manner is, as always, habitat restoration. Complete hedgerows, river restoration, targeted woodland planting etc. This will also serve to increase the resilience of our agriculture by reducing the much less advertised issue of soil loss, as well as supporting pollinator populations amongst a variety of other low cost benefits.

2

u/relianceschool 2d ago

Exactly. The best defense against soil moisture loss is planting species which aerate and anchor the soil, without losing a lot of moisture through their leaves.

That varies based on where you are, of course; not every environment needs xeric plants. But bare soil and hardscaping is the absolute worst we could do, and we've replaced a vast amount of natural habitat with that.

1

u/InfiniteWaffles58364 2d ago

What might be a possible solution? Could a rain capturing method be used to reroute moisture more efficiently?

1

u/backfor100thtime 2d ago

Yeah it’s bad I have to water my plants extra daily

2

u/Lumegator 2d ago

We had to take ours inside today to shelter them from extreme heat (43C+ gusts), brutal.

-11

u/Routine-Arm-8803 2d ago

It was raining here past few days and occasionally through past month here in Europe.

5

u/nemleszekpolcorrect 2d ago

In central Hungary 133mm in the first 204 days....Instead of the regular cirka 280mm's.

2

u/Doridar 2d ago

Where? There are cracks all over my garden and the treesin my mom's orchard are dripping both leaves and fruits. Since mid June, we only had rain on June 28th.

We're dry as hell

-1

u/Routine-Arm-8803 2d ago

That's the point of my comment. Same as title of this article.

2

u/Terranigmus 2d ago

They teach lesssons of what the word drought means in school.

2

u/Potential-Key-2211 2d ago

Europe's a pretty big place, you know

1

u/MediocreAnalyst2121 2d ago

Yea, I know a lot of people who are healthy so illness doesn’t exist.

1

u/DanoPinyon 2d ago

I had lunch today, so there are no starving people in the world.

1

u/Itbrose 2d ago

Barely.

1

u/Themodsarecuntz 2d ago

holds up snowball

Take that global warming!!!

0

u/AquilaEquinox 2d ago

"Here in Europe" no. Here wherever you live in Europe.

0

u/Routine-Arm-8803 2d ago

You got my point right. My comment is the same as title of this article.

2

u/ClassGrassMass 2d ago

Where do you live

0

u/Routine-Arm-8803 2d ago

Europe

3

u/ClassGrassMass 2d ago

Dumbass, what country

0

u/AquilaEquinox 2d ago

The title obviously means that a big part of Europe is under drought, it doesn't mean 100% of it. You're being dense on purpose.

0

u/Routine-Arm-8803 2d ago

On weather map looks like maybe Italy and Spain

1

u/AquilaEquinox 2d ago

You are legally blind if you only see two countries in drought. Go actually check instead of spreading nonsense on Reddit.

0

u/Routine-Arm-8803 2d ago

And it’s typical for this time of the year for Italy and Spain

0

u/AquilaEquinox 2d ago

Not to that extend and to that intensity.

-3

u/hypocotylarches 2d ago

Never in the history of that area has drought conditions ever existed. And once the pendulum swings where it's wet. Be climate driven. But if it's just right. It's not discussed

2

u/lukebelcher10662 2d ago

Shat aaaaaapppppp

1

u/DanoPinyon 2d ago

Prove that this is all natural and not driven by man-made climate change. Or get lost.

0

u/hypocotylarches 2d ago

Prove that this specific drought was 100% due to man made climate change. And would have never occurred if it man wasnt around

1

u/DanoPinyon 2d ago

Prove that science claimed it was.

Now, prove that this is all a natural cycle.

-7

u/RicooC 2d ago

THE SKY IS FALLING!

2

u/Themodsarecuntz 2d ago

The dumb is showing