What’s causing Europe’s extreme summer? How the answer could lie far away over the Atlantic

Europe is sweltering through a record-breaking summer of heatwaves and drought that has parched the continent and turned forests tinder-dry. 

Wildfires are blazing across France, while Germany’s most-important river, the Rhine, is on the verge of running dry, and swathes of England are officially in drought today. 

In this video, MailOnline’s Shivali Best explains the Azores High – a new weather phenomena that is ‘driving Europe’s extreme drought’. 

Using climate models, scientists simulated global weather over the past 1,200 years and found that the number of large Azores Highs is extremely unusual

Met Office reveals how the ‘Azores High’ pressure system is pushing up from the south and bringing scorching temperatures to the UK, France and the Iberian peninsula

The Met Office has revealed how the ‘Azores High’ pressure system is pushing up from the south, bringing scorching temperatures to the UK, France and the Iberian peninsula. 

The Azores High is a large centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. 

It is often referred to as the ‘gatekeeper of precipitation’, and is formed by dry air descending in the subtropics. 

Flames rip through tinder-dry woodland in Gironde, in the south of France, where a record-breaking summer of heatwaves and drought has turned pine forests into firewood

The river Rhine is pictured with low water. The low water levels are threatening Germany’s industry as more and more ships are unable to traverse the key waterway

Europe is in the grips of sweltering heat, severe drought and raging wildfires that are tearing through Spain, France and Portugal, while key waterways such as the Rhine and the Po are running dry

While it usually sits off Spain, it has recently grown larger and is being pushed further north, bringing scorching temperatures to the UK, France, and the Iberian peninsula. 

A Met Office spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Areas of high and low pressures do move around the globe, so the Azores High does occasionally extend across the UK throughout the year. 

‘The high usually doesn’t stay for too long but on this occasion it has remained close by throughout the summer.’

Worryingly, these large Azores High systems are becoming more common.

A major new study this year found that over the past 100 years, the number of extremely large Azores High systems has increased significantly.

And since 1980, large Azores Highs are two to three times more likely than over the previous hundred years.

Using climate models, scientists simulated global weather over the past 1,200 years and found that the number of large Azores Highs is extremely unusual.

Aside from the effects of the Azores High this summer, scientists believe long-term trends in hot weather have been caused by climate change.  

The 10 warmest years on record in the UK have occurred in the 21st century, with data stretching back to 1884. 

Professor Nigel Arnell, professor of climate system science at the University of Reading, said this year’s heat was ‘virtually impossible’ without the sharp rise in greenhouse gases since pre-industrial times.

‘The implication of that of course is that droughts are going to get worse into the future,’ he said. 

Swathes of England are officially in drought today as supermarkets began rationing bottled water today to prevent panic buying and millions of households edge closer to a hosepipe ban.

Residents in the South West, Southern and Central England and East of England have been move into drought status where they are being urged to be frugal with water use because of the driest summer in 50 years.

It is the first drought declared in the UK since 2018 – although that one was rapidly brought to an end by heavy rain – but despite the threat of torrential downpours and thunderstorms on Monday, much of southern England is unlikely to see significant rain until September.

The dried out greens and fairways of Ashton Court Golf Course, near Bristol, where the prolonged dry conditions, have left the parched land turning from green to brown

A view of a dry lake bed near the village of Conoplja, 150 kilometers north-west of Belgrade, Serbia

A prolonged period of low rainfall is a common definition of a drought, but in fact there is no one definition that applies across science, agriculture and the water industry.

‘Within agriculture, a period of three or four weeks with no or below average rainfall quickly constitutes a drought situation in this country,’ said Dr Joe Osborne, an industry consultancy manager at the Met Office. 

‘[But] there are many, many different definitions of drought, from the meteorological, the hydrological, the agricultural and the socio-economic perspectives.’ 

The move will put pressure on water companies to do more to conserve supplies after a number of major leaks in recent weeks wasting millions of gallons of water.

Hosepipe bans have already been announced for around 17million people – and another 15million could soon join them. Parts of southern England had the driest July since records began, and reservoir levels have fallen to their lowest levels in last 30 years.

Sainsbury’s and Aldi have put up posters limiting customers to between three and five bottles of drinking water each.

The ground starts to crack on a footpath in Windsor Great Park due to the continued heat and lack of rainfall on August 11, 2022

Dry conditions are like a ‘tinder box’ for sparking fires, as seen in parts of France at the moment. Wildfires are now blazing across the country’s southwest, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate from their homes. 

A wildfire starts with a spark, perhaps from a burning ember, a spark on a train track, lightning, heat from the sun or even often human error, such as disposing of a lit cigarette. 

If a spark happens in the presence of oxygen and fuel – such as dry grass, trees, shrubs and even houses – a fire can start.

During the first British heatwave of the 2022 summer, fires were reported in Upminster, Southgate, Croydon, Dagenham and the Essex village of Wennington, among other locations.