This morning I saw someone walking in shorts and a t-shirt and I saw more people in t-shirts. Switzerland is currently 8°c warmer than it should be at this time of year, and drier. The sun is shining and it rarely rains. The weather is stable and sunny, every single day, for weeks or even months at a time. We had a few minutes of rain recently but no more than that.
There is a level three risk of foresst fires at the moment. Now is a time when smoking and other forms of fire should be forbidden. Now is the time of year where the sides of roads catch alight easily. Forests are at risk. Yesterday when driving home I spotted a fire by the side and I reported it on Waze. They don’t have a “warn about roadside fires” option yet.
Every morning the landscape is covered in frost. That frost melts and turns to water, which in turn, turns to mud, and cakes my shoes. Unfortunately there has been no rain for weeks, and there is no rain expected for weeks. We are in another drought although most people will not call it that, yet. They prefer to enjoy the sunshine and ignore the deeper problem.
This risk of drought is recognised.
Today a tractor was ploughing a dry field. A cloud of dust was not that visible but you can see that rain would now be welcome. I walked by the usual river and looked down and the rocks in the riverbed are uncovered. There is no water running over them anymore. I notied that in another field pumpkins seem to be ready.
A dry Field In Switzerland
https://twitter.com/meteosuisse/status/1432303148119560193
Lack of rainfall in August
Today as I walked I could see clear evidence that Switzerland is now dry. As you walk by the side of the road you see that it is yellow, and that there is no growth. Crops are withering away and water gauges are now filling with dust, rather than rain.
We now go for weeks without rain. If I wanted to pick up the soil it would crumble in my hands and blow away as dust.