The amount of precipitation for the whole of Austria has so far been 54 percent among the resources. The constant drought is also striking for Klaus Haslinger, climate researcher at Geosphere Austria. If there is no greater precipitation in the next three to four weeks, the weather phenomenon can also have an impact at the start of vegetation.
Unlike other meteorological phenomena, Haslinger has no clear definition for drought. An agricultural drought – as it currently dominates – is already there if the floor no longer contains enough water to deliver plants sufficiently. A hydrological drought, on the other hand, only exists when rivers, lakes and groundwater levels fall below a critical level.
Very low winter
For home use, however, people speak of a drought if the precipitation is considerably below the respective means for a few months. This is currently also the case in Austria. “It was a very low winter and we also start the vegetation phase very dry,” Haslinger said.
The monitoring of the Austria geosphere also shows how strong the drought is. A value of less than 54 percent for the whole of Austria is displayed here compared to the average of the climate paper from 1991 to 2020. In individual measurements, the values are even more extreme: in the rax region, in which there was recently a forest fire, there was about 70 to 85 percent less precipitation in this period than average.
From December 1, 2024 to March 10, only 30 millimeters of precipitation were measured at the Reichenau/Rax weather station. “On average there are 192 millimeters here in this period. This results in a shortage of 84 percent, “says Geosphere. Other values also underline the situation: St. Pölten: 22 instead of 66 millimeters, Kremsmünster 44 instead of 136 millimeters, Zell am See 45 instead of 138 millimeters and Langen am Arlberg 103 instead of 239 millimeters.
Not every hundred years
Haslinger, however, emphasized that the current situation, exceptional, but “not only every hundred years”. March 2022 showed approximately a minus of 71 percent among the resources.
Source: Krone
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