Europe braces for severe drought amid winter heatwave

CNN
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A winter heatwave, record low levels of rain and a startling lack of snow in Europe are pushing rivers, canals and lakes across the continent to alarmingly low levels, with experts warning there could be repeat of last year’s severe droughts.

Images of dried-up river beds and shrunken lakes are usually associated with the scorching heat of summer – not the winter. But an exceptionally warm and dry start to the year is affecting a swath of Europe, including central and southwest France, northern Spain and northern Italy.

There are concerns for what this might mean for water supplies.

Europe’s water situation has become “very precarious,” according to a study published in January by researchers at the Graz University of Technology in Austria, which used satellite data to analyze the world’s groundwater resources.

“A few years ago, I would…