A drier and warmer start to spring has led to “unusual” wildfires in the UK, and a risk of drought across north western Europe, the continent’s climate service has warned.
Most of the region which also encompasses the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany has been put “watch” or “warning” for drought – with some areas being placed on “alert” – by the EU’s climate monitoring service Copernicus, which has a drought observatory.
Nearly 30,000 hectares of forest in the UK were burnt by May 6, which is an “absolute record”, according to Copernicus.
The fires were seen across England in counties including Dorset, Cumbria and Derbyshire, after the region had seen its “driest start of spring in nearly 70 years” and is expected to rank as the driest in over a century, according to Met Office data.
Warnings were issued in Northern Ireland last weekend by the authorities as they battled active fires.
The wildfires had led to higher carbon emissions than usual for the region. The Netherlands saw its highest wildfire emissions for April on record, followed by the UK and Ireland.
The dry warm weather is expected to continue for the next months, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology said on Wednesday.
Rainfall in the UK was “very low” in April, continuing the dry period that began in February. “Many areas received less than half their normal rainfall, with parts of northern England and western Scotland recording below 30% of their April average,” the Hydrological Outlook said.
Lower river flows have been detected across the UK, with groundwater levels expected to continue to decline for the next three months, the update said. “The dry start to May increases the likelihood that low to exceptionally low flows in some areas persist into the summer,” it said.
The pressure on resources could lead to hosepipe bans later this year, and Thames Water’s Chief Executive Tim Weston said on Tuesday that restrictions wouldn’t be ruled out.
A senior scientist of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service described the fires as “unusual”, and warned of their health implications as they reduce air quality.
“Wildfires and biomass burning have significant impacts on air quality and human health,” said Mark Parrington.
“As the boreal summer approaches, several regions around the Northern Hemisphere are already beginning to experience increased occurrence of wildfires and smoke emissions,” he said.
Large wildfires had already been developing the in the Eurasian Arctic Circle and Canada, he warned.
Belgian meteorologists say the country is going through its driest period in 130 years. Pascal Mormal of its Royal Meteorological Institute warned this week that a “very large part of the country is now in extreme drought”.
But the situation was not yet considered catastrophic because of high rainfalls last year. “The year 2024 was the wettest since records began,” added Mr Mormal.
England has seen the driest February to April period since 1956 the UK government’s Environment Agency said in a report this week, amid warnings over possible drought in coming months.
Germany’s wildfire minister Steffi Lemke warned in April that the unusual spring drought would elevate wildfire risks later this year.
