Wildfires in the EU have nearly quadrupled the 15-year average
28 July 2022
Published by: https://edition.cnn.com
EUROPE – London (CNN) — The total number of wildfires in the European Union since the beginning of 2022 is almost four times the 15-year average for the same time period, according to Copernicus, the bloc’s Earth observation program.
German officials have said that while its blazes are now mostly under control, the situation for two regions affected by large forest fires remains “tense.” On Wednesday, local forest fire protection officer Philipp Haase told CNN that 480 firefighters were still fighting flames in Brandenburg to the northeast and Saxony in the east.
“At this stage in the month we would expect to have seen well over three-quarters of the month’s rain to have already fallen in an average July,” the Met Office said.
The UK was not included in Copernicus’ data.
Mark McCarthy, Head of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre, said on the Met’s website that it was not only July that had been dry. “Since the start of the year, all months apart from February have been drier than average in the UK too,” he said. “The result of this is that the winter, spring and summer of 2022 have all seen less than the UK average seasonal rainfall.”