drought

Google is going to build a mega data center in a state where the drought is atrocious. Your cooling plan: use air

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The American state of Texas has been dealing with heat wavesdroughts and a increasing pressure on its aquiferswhich makes it on paper one of the worst places to set up a data center. Well, Wilbarger County in Texas is just the place chosen by Google to set up your next data center. But big tech hides an ace up its sleeve: it is not going to use water for cooling, but air. Context. Briefly, a data center is an industrial facility full of servers where information transmitted over the internet, such as AI responses or your Google photos, is stored and processed. And if your personal computer requires cooling when it has been working with a certain intensity for some time to dissipate heat, more of the same with servers, which operate 24/7. The usual thing in these plants is to use thermal dissipation systems with water, either with chillers, evaporation or direct cooling with immersion, thermally efficient solutions, but problematic if water is scarce. The problem? That Texas is an oven that is not for buns: its drought is pressing. But Texas is not a foreign place for Google: it has been in that state for more than 15 years, where it has operational centers in Midlothian and Red Oak and already plans to build two more campuses in Armstrong and Haskell Counties. It’s very serious. The project. The Wilbarger County data center will reduce water use so much that it will restrict its application to basic campus uses such as kitchens and services. As? Google has not provided details of the technology, only that it will be advanced air cooling. Cooling with air in such a hot scenario implies greater energy consumption, so the problem now becomes electricity. What Google proposes is a “Power first” model. In short: the data center goes hand in hand with its own renewable electricity generation plant. Google’s energy partner for this project is AESone of the largest producers of renewables in the US, with whom it has a 20-year energy purchase agreement at an agreed price. This is how both win: AES has stability to build the plants and Google has the guaranteed supply and price. Furthermore, according to Google, they already have the land and the interconnection signed, which saves bureaucracy and launches the project into the construction phase. Why is it important. Because according to EESI estimatesa medium-sized data center can consume 416 million liters per year for thermal dissipation alone, the equivalent of a thousand homes. And if there is a shortage of water, allocating it to meet the needs of a data center is hardly justifiable. Wilbarger’s project solves this with air cooling, removing the precious commodity of water from the equation, but also from the electrical grid itself: Google cooks it and Google eats it (with the help of AES). Given that the demand for computing continues to grow, a model that does not consume water or overload the network emerges as a solution to a resource management problem. In figures. For Google, Wilbarger County is not a pilot plant and its size demonstrates this: 0 liters of water for cooling. The project will provide 7,800 MW of power to the Texas grid. The agreement between the technology and energy companies is for 20 years. Google advertisement an investment item of 40 billion dollars for Texas in November 2025 and has provided a $30 million fund to boost energy initiatives in Texas from 2026 to 2028. It won’t be easy. Although Google has been cryptic when it comes to reporting what the technology, its capacity and needs will be, the reality is that when cooling with air in a hot climate, the pressure is transferred to the electrical grid. On the other hand, and although this specific project points the direction of a possible solution to this problem, we will have to see if and how it can be scaled, because there are more and more data centers and the climate is increasingly more extreme. In Xataka | Google doesn’t have rockets, but it is going to install data centers in space. SpaceX and Blue Origin rub their hands In Xataka | Data centers in space are the finger, Google’s purchase of an electrical company is the Moon Cover | Google Data Centers and Ganapathy Kumar

The economy’s big fear was a simultaneous global drought. Science has found our lifesaver

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We have been observing for years how climatic extremes They hit different parts of the globe, with the experience in Spain still very marked. But with him increase in temperatures To the extreme, one of the biggest fears of climatologists and economists is the synchrony of global droughts. That is, a scenario in which the main food-producing regions dry out at the same time. The good news is that science indicates that the Earth (at the moment) is not drying out. A problem. Logically, if the main countries in the world where wheat, rice, corn or soybeans are produced had a drought simultaneously, we would have a huge problem of product supplywhich for many is a real nightmare. But here the researchers have reached a conclusion: synchronized global droughts are severely limited and barely affect between 1.8% and 6.5% of the global land surface at the same time. Without a doubt, a great respite for economists who saw the end of the world as we know it and who has been published in Nature. But the most impressive thing is that all this is thanks to the oceans. What we knew. Until now, we knew that major climate events such as The Child wave North Atlantic Oscillationcould alter rainfall patterns thousands of miles away through what scientists call “teleconnections.” And it is something that the research team itself pointed out in the past: there are interconnected drought nodes at different latitudes, most in North America, South America, Africa and Australia. That is, when there is drought in one place, it can move to another. But, if these nodes are connected… Why doesn’t the entire planet dry out at once when there is an anomaly like El Niño? The answer is in the oceanic variability. An ally. In this case, the oceans act as an immense regulatory mechanism and that is why the authors literally speak of a phenomenon called ‘geographic trapping’. In this way, the dynamics of the oceans force the scale of these hydrological extremes to remain confined to certain areas, preventing drought from spreading across all continents simultaneously between the different nodes. It matters more that it doesn’t rain. Another of the findings that may be surprising derives from a common myth about extreme droughts. In this case we usually automatically associate the worst droughts with the suffocating heat wavesbut, nevertheless, the data from the last 120 years are clear in pointing out that the lack of precipitation dominates over high temperatures when determining the severity of a drought. That is to say, it is important that it does not rain or that it is extremely hot. Specifically, the lack of rain is responsible for two-thirds of the impact of the severity of these events, relegating temperature to a secondary role, although not negligible in a world that is moving towards warming of up to three degrees Celsius. It’s good news. That the planet has mechanisms to avoid a total global drought is excellent news for global food security and international markets, by ensuring supply for supermarkets. But scientists point out that we should not let our guard down. It must be kept in mind that, although 6.5% of land affected simultaneously, the maximum possibility that we have mentioned before, seems small on a planetary scale, if that percentage coincides exactly with the great “breadbaskets of the world”, the economic and humanitarian disaster can be equally devastating. In this way, the regions identified as “hubs” host a large part of global agricultural production, and the study warns of a growing systemic vulnerability in these areas. Images | edcharlie In Xataka | The drought is turning water into a very scarce and valuable commodity in Spain. And there are already organized groups of thieves

wells, drought and the hidden side of the avocado

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Avocado is undoubtedly a very delicious food and also in high demand for its good macros, which has led to an increase in its production. This proliferation in its cultivation seems to bring good news for our land (especially because it sells well), but on the Costa del Sol and the Tropical Coast of Malaga and Granada the great environmental impacts are already seen which is generating such as the plowing of the slopes and a large water consumption that aggravates the drought already typical of southern Spain. A great consumption. To put figures, More than 20,000 hectares are now dedicated to avocados in these provinceswith some 5,000 hectares converted from dry land to irrigated land, with dubious legality behind it, which has also caused the appearance up to 250 illegal wells in 2023. This expansion, which represents 30% of the Andalusian avocado area (about 9,400 hectares in total), has replaced traditional crops with hypertensive tropical crops despite the climate crisis. All to opt for a crop that can undoubtedly give a great economic return. Environmentalism. A recent complaint made through Along with this complaint, which points to the serious environmental problems that are being experienced, different images are shown that undoubtedly speak for themselves to understand how this crop is affecting the geography. Publication in X by Santiago M. Barajas | Via X What we are seeing is not just agriculture; It is an industrial transformation of the landscape that is pushing the water and geological resources of Malaga and Granada to the limit. This is how avocado and mango have gone from being “green gold” to becoming an environmental time bomb. Destruction engineering. Traditionally, agriculture in these areas was adapted to the natural orography of the land. But now, the model that has been imposed, driven by the very high profitability of the tropical fruit, does the opposite: adapt the orography to the crop by force. According to Ecologists in Action and confirm various edaphic studiesthe implementation of these crops requires heavy machinery to break slopes. The process eliminates the original vegetation cover to create artificial terraces. The result? A severe degradation of the soil in its surface horizons. A problem with storms. With this degradation, what is caused is the elimination of natural vegetation, which produces a “sealing” of the soil and consequently the appearance of cracks that nullify its biological functions. The problem arises when torrential rains appear (increasingly more frequent in the Mediterranean), which causes the water to not filter and run away, dragging nutrients and causing massive erosion. This is something that translates into the use of more fertilizers by farmers, which end up contaminating the subsoil. In short, we are facing a vicious cycle of chemical and physical degradation. An infinite thirst. The avocado is a fruit that fits perfectly in the rainforest, but has now been transplanted in an area with a semi-arid Mediterranean climate. An ideal place for traditional dryland crops such as olive or almond trees that can survive on what falls from the sky. But avocado or mango in a hypertensive model demand about 7,500 cubic meters of water per hectare per year. These demands Added to the large number of plantations that exist, as we have commented previously, it leads to great water tension that we have seen reflected in the La Viñuela reservoir, which has reached only 7% of its capacity in 2023, and which has reached La Axarquía in Malaga. to a critical situation. And this deficit is not solved with rain, but with drilling machines that open wells in the area. In this way, the direct consequence is clear: overexploitation of aquifers and their salinization due to marine intrusion. An escalated problem. This avocado bubble does not stop increasing in our country. Given the collapse that has been experienced in Malagathe model has been replicated in Cádiz, Hueva or Murcia, which in the end are regions that already suffer their own water stress due to not receiving much rainfall throughout the year. But not only has he been emigrating from the provinces, but he has also escalated to the judicial field, where the prosecution points it is already being investigated a possible environmental crime with damage to the public water domain valued at 10 million euros and the illegal theft of up to 26 cubic hectometers of water. And in many of these regions citizens have had to suffer supply cuts due to this shortage, while this agricultural model continued to demand A solution. What is proposed In this case it is the ordered de-escalation of these crops. To achieve this, the goal is to stop new irrigation talks and close illegal wells. The problem is that it faces a very important leg of the economy of some of these provinces, against the change in the landscapes of the region. In Xataka | Andalusia has become a hostile land for the avocado. So an unexpected region is taking over: Galicia

Spain has more and more problems with the drought and criminal networks have begun to realize it

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This story begins with a civil guard couple in civilian clothes chasing a tanker truck. They have been following trucks for months, they have checked thousands of livestock farms and, finally, they are about to find something. With 50 million liters of something. The initial track. More than a hundred residents of a district of Lorca denounced last year that there was an entire network selling water tanks to supply agricultural operations. It is nothing new: the Civil Guard has numerous investigations underway into the inspection and control of water use. Therefore, SEPRONA started to investigate the matter. And what have they found? The surveillance device located the tanker truck filling point: it was a well without authorizations for use and without a volumetric counter or any other type of measuring instrument. It seemed difficult to know the number of liters extracted. However, as the company pretended to be legitimate, the Civil Guard has been able to document that, during the last 18 months, 56 million liters of water had been sold for a value of at least 275,000 euros. This is only in the last 18 months: the armed institute believes that the illegal use of the well may have lasted several decades. Just one case out of a million. Over the last few years We have been talking about dozens of people investigated, detained and convicted due to illegal irrigation: in 2023 alone, hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water have been extracted illegally. The problem is real: so real that the Malaga water company has even hired private detectives to monitor employees, suppliers and customers. However, the key to this is not what has already happened. The key is what is going to happen. The list of threats is enormous. Climate change, overexploitation of aquifers, intensive agriculture, inadequate water management, forest fires, deforestation and population growth… Spain has a problem with water and that problem is not going to stop growing and growing. In this context, robberies are going to become more frequent and common. And that’s saying a lot: according to WWFthere are more than 500,000 illegal wells. But no one can be surprised. After all, there is a high financial incentive and relatively low penalties. Most cases they end, in fact, in fines and that is an excellent breeding ground for a huge problem. Image | VD Photography | Elentir In Xataka | Spain is facing a brutal drought and there are farmers watering avocados irregularly. A prosecutor wants it to be a crime

Spanish wine promised them very happy after the end of drought. The price of grapes is changing everything

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The wine industry is facing a complicated year. In the eye of the hurricane, the price of grapes, such a low price that is leading farmers to stand up war. A problem that It has been hanging on the sector From before even the beginning of the harvest. The food chain law. The Unió Llauradora, Agrarian Organization of Valencian, has been the last sector group in denounce the situation of the grape market. The organization has claimed to claim Ministry of Agriculture Valenciana A study on the production costs for the grapes used for wine production, a study they consider could “endorse possible complaints for breach of the food chain law.” This legislation is responsible for regulating “the operation and vertebration of the food chain.” A law that seeks, According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foodimprove the efficacy and competitiveness of the sector while reducing the imbalance in commercial relations. According to explained in a statement The Llauradora Unió, this legislation “the only instrument that producers possess to defend their interests (…) in the face of commercial distribution abuses.” 20% less. Farmers do not consider that the price at which wine producers buy the grape is fair. According to the forecasts of the Valencian Sector Association, the price of grapes could fall by more than 20% this year. Expectations v. reality. The Valencian field is the last to join the complaints of other vinification grape -producing regions. The harvest seemed to be abundant, with some areas relying on a recovery in production also 20%. This increase in supply would be the great engine of the price drop, a decrease such that for some wine producing regions they have indicated in recent months that they would not allow them to cover production costs. To this problem, the Unió Llauradora adds another in the fact that its harvest is not even reaching the expected volume at first. Despite this, prices, based on more optimistic expectations, They continue to be low. “The rains recorded at certain times of the campaign were a relief and contributed to the recovery of the vine The association stands out. One crisis after another. The current one is just one of the crises that the sector has had to face in recent years. The increase that some wine regions have seen in production responds rather to a recovery compared to recent years, marked by the drought that put a good part of the agricultural sector against the strings (even the farmer). In Xataka | During centuries Galicia was a thriving land of olive groves with unique varieties in the world. What changed it is still a mystery Image | Dailos Medina / Pixabay

Archaeologists have been wondering how the drought affected the Mayan collapse. The answer was in a remote cave

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The sayinger says that the devil is hidden in the details. Often, when we talk about archeology, key clues too. Archaeologists who investigate the collapse of The Mayan civilization. For years experts wonder if that decline was motivated by changes in commercial routes, wars or climatic factors, such as droughts, a theory that has gained weight over the last years. What historians did not know is to what extent the Maya endured the shortage of rain between the ninth and 10th centuries. Now we finally know. And all thanks to A stalagmit Lost in a remote cave of Yucatan. What happened? That archaeologists have just achieved a valuable clue to better know the history of Mayan civilization. And not any period. What they have discovered is a fact that sheds light on one of their most fascinating chapters, The collapse of the classical period, a phase that extended Between the IX and X Centuries From our era and that he saw how the flourishing Mayan civilization fell into decline and the twilight of large cities arrived. During that stage the southern limestone settlements were abandoned and civilization moved northlosing part of its influence at a political and economic level. What have you found out? That this stage was marked by droughts. To be more precise, archaeologists have found out that between 871 and 1021 of our era they happened Eight long droughts In the Yucatan Peninsula, periods of water shortage that with all probability influenced the population. Not all of them lasted the same, but experts estimate that each of those episodes of agostation lasted at least three years, although there was one in particular that extended 13. Let us talk about extreme droughts It does not mean that it did not rain. With that term archaeologists refer to periods of at least three consecutive years during which the dry station lasted more months than usual or even in which one cannot talk about wet season as such. The experts They recognize That 13 years under these conditions, even with the water management techniques developed by the Maya, leads to “a great impact for society.” Why is it important? Because as the authors of the investigation recognize in An article Posted a few days ago in the magazine Science Advancesthat prolonged drought chain could play a key role in the history of the Maya, “contributing to the collapse of classical civilization.” “This period of Mayan history has fascinated us for centuries”, Recognize Dr. Daniel H. James, author of the study. “Multiple theories have emerged about the cause of collapse, such as changes in commercial routes, wars or severe droughts, based on the archaeological evidence left by the Maya. But in recent decades we have begun to learn a lot about what happened to the Maya and why, mixing archaeological data with quantifiable climate evidence.” Is it something new? Yes. And no. It is not the first time that archaeologists explore the impact that droughts had on the decline of classical Mayan civilization. Over the last years they have already reached more or less similar conclusions thanks to sediment study collected at the bottom of the Chichankanab lagoon or of Stalactite samples Obtained in a cave in southern Belize, clues that pointed to the role played by climate oscillations in The Mayan collapse. The new data obtained by James and their colleagues also fit other signals, as with the dates left by the Maya themselves in their monuments or records in the popular Chinchén Itzá. There, in one of the great settlement of the Yucatan, the inscriptions of dates are mysteriously faded just during the periods in which we now know that there were severe droughts. “It does not mean that the Maya left Chichen Itzá these periods, but it is likely that they had more urgent things than to worry about building monuments, as if the crops on which they depended would be successful or not.” So … why is it important? Although It is not the first time that archaeologists point to the effect of droughts in the Mayan collapse the new study published in Science It is important for several reasons. First, for your approach. Second, for its precision. In this case, researchers have departed from an especially valuable track: the stalagmites located in a Yucatan cave. Thanks to the dating and analysis of the oxygen isotope layers that contain these calcareous rocks, formed on the ground with the water that drips in the cave, experts have been able to obtain “very detailed information” on the climate of the terminal classic period. “Previous studies have measured the isotopes contained in lake sediments to determine the severity of drought, but do not contain enough detail to accurately find out the climatic conditions in a specific year and location,” They clarify From Cambridge. Unlike what happens with the sediments collected from the bottom of the lakes, “excellent to obtain a global vision,” says James, the stalagmites offer a variety of concise data. “They allow us to access more precise details that we were missing,” Write down the expertwho now acts as a researcher at the University College in London. According to the team, this has been the first time that archaeologists have been able to isolate information about the rains of humid and dry stations individually, obtaining the details of each one. How precise are they? Its authors say so. So far the stalagmites had provided data on rainfall annual measures during the classical terminal periodbut that information did not allow scholars to go down to detail. How much did it rain exactly in humid stations and dry? Thanks to the Yucatan stalagmite analyzed by the experts, which contains relatively thick annual layers, of about a millimeter, the experts have been able to analyze oxygen isotopes of each stage, an indicator of the drought. “Knowing the average annual rainfall does not reveal as much as knowing how every rainy season was”, Dr. James points out. “Isolate the rainy season … Read more

Despite drought and climate change, Andalusia is today greener than in the 90s. It is not as positive as it seems

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A few months ago we count that Spain was getting greener. We did not refer to renewablesbut to the spectacular effects of a spring Exceptionally rainy that He moved the ghosts of the past. The problem was what would happen after those rains and If the drought would call back to the door. Now we are in a totally different scenario: heat waves and, Like every summer of recent years, The fight against fires. In spite of everything, and to climate change, NASA shows that Andalusia is today more “green” than in the 90s. And it is not to be too excited. Short. Spain is a country with drastic microclimal changes on which the flora depends. In the south of the peninsula, they are the Mediterranean forests Those who occupy 26% of Andalusia and the conditions of much of the soil have made pines and holm oaks are the dominant speciesS, since they adapt well to areas without plant cover. Andalusia is a good study scenario because climate change clearly draws its effects, such as upward temperature, decline rains and increased aridity. And, as we see in Physa team of researchers has published in Ecological Indicators How these forests have responded during the last 30 years. Tools. For the analysis, the researchers used more than 5,000 satellite images captured between 1994 and 2021 obtained Thanks to Landsat 5 and Landsat 7NASA. In total, they analyzed 2,358 plots that compared with data from Google Earth Engine and created an “greenery” index measured by Ndvi. They are the acronym of ‘Standardized Difference Vegetation Index ”, a way of quantifying, through satellite images or remote sensors, how much living vegetation there is in an area. In short, it is something that indicates the amount and vigor of the vegetation, being a tool widely used in studies of agriculture, natural resources management or those associated with climate change. Black squares represent 2,358 farms analyzed. In the most dependent areas of agriculture, the effects are much more limited What do we see. In general, except red eucalyptus, all species have shown an increase in this NDVI value, something that points to sustained revergeration. In trees such as holm oaks, cork oaks and pines, the maximum moment of activity is concentrated in the soft winter months, falling in the summers. And the chestnut, which is the only deciduous species of the study, operates on the contrary. The Effects of climate change And aridity have a decisive role in these cycles, extending the activity period of the Carrasco pine and the resin in the driest places and shortening that of other pine species, such as the wild, and that of the wild olive tree. Between 1994 and 2005, the growth of these species was evident, and followed its course from 2005 to 2021, although at a more moderate speed. ¿Because? The result is that, the green territory is now greener and the conclusion is that many species have maintained or increased its green coverage. There are several explanations, and very diverse. Carrasco or Encina pine are designed to support heat and droughtwhich allows them to remain active when other species lower the activity. Here the policies of natural reforestation and regeneration have played a role, as well as global factors such as the increase in Atmospheric co₂ that would act as fertilizer. There are also factors directly related to human activity, such as a progressive abandonment of farmland in certain areas that has favored the natural regeneration of the forest, as well as changes in land use, such as the decrease in livestock pressure that reduces the degradation of the undergrowth. We have also influenced the contrary, as with a cork oak, which we extract cork periodically, limiting the regeneration of the tree. Nuances. The study is very useful to see the current situation of the Andalusian Mediterranean forest, but also to observe which are the most resilient species and those that best adapt to changing conditions and a rampant aridity. And the conclusion of the study is that things are not going well, but due to that resilience of some species and, despite the continuous increase in annual average temperatures, most species did not demonstrate a relationship between phenological metrics and that temperature increase. And, perhaps, the most important thing is that the greenest does not equals a healthier vegetation, since various factors (natural and human) intervene and we see that this revergence is nothing uniform, with a south and this drier in which the vegetation is hardly growing. But well, as researchers point out, see what species are more resistant and adapt better is something that allows you to find the best options for adequate reforestation policies, Not how we are doing in many places in Europe. Before we talked about that rainy spring that moved the ghost of drought and that summer was returning to reality. And the Recent restrictions in Galicia They are a sad sign of this. Image | José Sánchez Rodríguez and Rafael Palomo López In Xataka | Spain has been dismissing its forest firefighters in winter for years. Fire show that it may not be a good idea

The hydrographic basin that is most suffering from drought is an unexpected one: Galicia’s

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Summer It is taking its toll To the Spanish reservoirs and, despite the fact that the hydrographic basins maintain good health, some of these areas have seen how their reserves have markedly diminish. This has led to repeat an already familiar scenario: consumption restrictions. First restrictions. Galicia is an example of this. In this community there have been several councilsespecially in those located south of Pontevedra, who have announced restrictions to the use of water. The implemented measures differ as the case reported the Chain ser. The problem affects more areas of the Northwest, not just Galicia. As reported The newspaper Commercesome municipalities and parishes in Asturias have already announced the implementation of measures of this type to force water savings. These measures, explains the local press, affect only the “great consumption”, such as swimming pools and vehicle washing, similar to the previous ones. The restrictions have even reached some municipalities in the province of León, especially in the Laciana region, also reported the local press. The town hall of Villablino has been the one who has given the alarm, announcing restrictions on domestic use. The Galician basins. The data published this week on the Stadium of the Reservoirs confirm a worrying trend in a good part of the basins of the northwest of the Peninsula. This is especially notorious in The basins of the coast of Galicia The only basin north of Júcar below 60 % of its capacity, with its swamps full of 58.5% on average (400 hm³ in total). At the end of May, these reservoirs exceeded 80% of its capacity. Question of size? There are two factors that explain this rapid descent. The first is a hard summer: the month of June was an extremely warm month in Spain, Also dry (Galicia being one of the driest areas within the Peninsula). Although the month of July was somewhat more wet, most of the rainfall concentrated on the west peninsular. The second is that we are talking about a small, the sixth smaller sixth basin, with a capacity of 490 hm³, a small fraction of the capacity of neighboring basins such as that of the Miño-Sil (3,030 hm³) or the Duero (7,602 hm³). Lower size implies greater variability, less capacity to absorb Shocks and changes. Below 2024. Although the situation is not so striking in the rest of Galician basins, there is a detail that all the Northwest basins share (Western Cantabrian, Duero, Galician Basins and Miño-Sil): they all have less water than they had last year by these dates. The difference is more pronounced in the small basins: the reservoirs of the Galician coast kept 483 hm³ this week, which implies a drop of 17.2%, while those of the Western Cantabrian They have passed from 430 to 357 hm³, almost 17% less. In contrast, that of the Miño-Sil It went from 2,506 to 2,403 (4.1% less), and The Duero From 5,993 to 5,766 hm³ (3.8% less). On average, the Peninsular basins They have 14.9% more water than last year by these same dates. Summer remains ahead. There are still almost two months left for the end of the hydrological year. This change of the year is between the months of September and October, at which time autumn precipitations usually change the descendant trend in the reserve of the summer months. In Xataka | The next great drought is a matter of time. It is the one we have to solve the problem of sediments in reservoirs Image | Vjgalaxy

Catalonia and Murcia were two of the areas most affected by the drought. Now they are in the center of the storm

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Of the 10 meteorological stations that Yesterday they collected more rainfall Five were in the province of Barcelona. At 11:00 today, the five stations that have collected more rainfall today are in the province of Murcia. A trough in summer. During the last days a trough has traveled the north of the country and the Mediterranean basin, but it has been this last area that has taken the worst part. This event has left large hail images and some overwhelmed channels in the center and north of the Mediterranean slope. The good news is that these areas where the rains now accumulate are some of the most punished by the drought that until a few months ago ravaged the peninsula. A drought whose effects still last in some of these areas. The most affected by drought. The Catalan and Safe internal basins were among the basins most affected by drought. In March last year, the Catalan basins stayed Below 15% of its capacity. After a slight rebound, at the beginning of this year their levels were Something above 30% of its capacity. Since then the Catalan basins have recovered and their reservoirs They are now to 77.6% of its capacity. Something that has not happened in the case of reservoirs in the Segura Basin. These reservoirs came to 19.2% of its capacity And, although they have recovered, they still remain in a modest 28.7%. The passage of a trough. The arrival of the last trough I could help To relieve the situation in areas such as the Safe Basin and to consolidate the stabilization of the basins of the north of the Mediterranean aspect, not only in Catalonia, also in the Júcar. For now the figures left by the trough are only provisional, although in the last Weekly balance of rainfall Made by the State Meteorology Agency (AEMET) stand out accumulations greater than 60 mm in Catalonia during the day after day, day 23. The data of the weather stations of the area indicate that yesterday’s was another rainy day. Change of trend? Meteorologists expect the situation to calm down today, but the longest tendency is not so clear. A few days ago it seemed that we were in a brief Impla before the return of heat. Now The models speak of a dough of cold air stagnated on Europe. Change of trend? Summer It is not usually A time of hydrological relief, so rain can become great news for those who look with concern the possibility of a new drought that puts the resistance of the water system again. This is especially true in the basins that have not had the opportunity to recover completely during the last months of hydrological bonanza. In Xataka | The next great drought is a matter of time. It is the one we have to solve the problem of sediments in reservoirs Image | SUPERCHILUM, CC by-SA 4.0

Drought is a real threat after an extremely warm, and also dry June

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The month of June has been the warmest since we have records, as confirmed by the State Meteorology Agency (Aemet). Perhaps more striking is the fact that, despite successive storms interspersed among the warm episodes, the first summer month of 2025 has been drier than average. Warm and dry. Aemet has published Your meteorological summary of the month of June. In this confirm something that we already sensed: last month it was extremely warm, with an average thermal anomaly of 3.6º Celsius above what would be common at this time. It has also been drier than usual, with 68% of the rainfall that would be expected from the sixth month of the year. 23.7º. According to the published summary, the average temperature during the month of June was 23.7º in the Peninsula, which implies the aforementioned anomaly. June 2025 has become the hottest in the historical series for a wide difference: 0.9º above the previous record, marked in 2017. The Balearic Islands also saw a month “extremely warm”, with an average 3.1º above the average. The Canary Islands however remained in a somewhat less extreme record: with an anomaly of 0.7º, its June was listed as “very warm.” Returning to the Peninsula, in some areas of the northeast thermal anomaly in this month exceeds 4.5º. Lack of water. The Meteorological Summary Results With regard to heat they are expected, but there is another important detail and is referring to rainfall. Last month it was also drier than usual in peninsular Spain, with average rainfall of 21.7 mm, more than 30% below the average June. This can be striking if we take into account the various stormy episodes seen throughout the month. These storms were interspersed, serving as relief among the successive warm episodes that occurred during the month. Balearic Islands, with hardly any water. But the most extreme case was not that of peninsular Spain but the one lived in the Balearic Islands. In the Mediterranean archipelago, rainfall fell about 99% compared to the average. During the past month the archipelago received only 0.1 mm of rain. Without reaching such an extreme, the Canary Islands also experienced a dry month: 0.7 mm, 27% of what would be conventional in June. In the peninsula some isolated areas saw rainfall higher than average, especially in the northern plateau and in the Ebro valley. Change in the trend? Between the past fall and the last spring, the high rainfall managed to get a good part of the country out of the drought situation in which it was. Swamps and reservoirs before under minimums saw their volume of water significantly grow. Great news that was welcomed with a certain degree of skepticism after more than a year of drought. June is not the first month dry than usual we see in the last year, but the less a reminder that the hydrological bonanza era will not be eternal and that we must prepare for when the drought prevails again. In Xataka | “Clouds of fire”, the phenomenon that makes escape from sixth generation fires can make it impossible Image | Aemet

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