Record heat and drought fuel European wildfires and energy disruptions

Western Europe has experienced its warmest combined June and July on record, coinciding with global sea surface temperatures reaching an unprecedented peak of 20.96 degrees Celsius in July. The month stood as the second-warmest globally, measuring approximately 1.47 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial baselines.

The persistent heat and dry conditions have fueled significant wildfires across France, Belgium, and the Balkans. In southwestern France's Landes department, an advancing blaze has consumed more than 1,580 hectares of forest, prompting the precautionary evacuation of residents from roughly 650 residences.

Concurrently, critical drops in river levels have disrupted energy operations across the continent. Following output reductions and reactor shutdowns in Hungary and Romania, Romanian armed forces conducted a controlled underwater blast in the Danube to guide essential cooling water toward a nuclear power plant. The drought has also exposed prehistoric fossils and historical artifacts along dried riverbeds.

Sources: Diário de Notícias (DN), Expresso, Jornal Económico, RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal)