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Just took a train ride from Vienna to Budapest for a few days, and couldn’t help but notice how very, very dry everything is .. as an Australian living in Europ
by MomsAVoxell 2mo ago
Just took a train ride from Vienna to Budapest for a few days, and couldn’t help but notice how very, very dry everything is .. as an Australian living in Europe for a few decades now, I’ve always been intrigued by just how green everything is, literally something growing in every single crack in the pavement, or endless rolling green fields of prosperity during spring - whereas, where I’m from its year-long spinifex and grass shrubs and wattles with the occasional bush flower bloom, barely hanging on out in the desert, mostly reds and blacks and greys, not much green - so the vibrancy of European fields and the abundant diversity of countryside flora have always been pleasant to my eyes ..
During this trip, I was kind of shocked that things felt a bit more Australian to my eyes .. the grasses are dry and barren, the beautiful city parks of both Budapest and Vienna dustier than usual, the Danube water level definitely noticeably lower than I remember ever seeing.
I’ve long been encouraging my European friends to not take the abundance of growth for granted, and now we see it in the environment, plain and clear: the worlds’ weather is changing.
A week of sweltering heat is predicted for us again in Vienna, and as we get started on September and then October so close, two thoughts are on my mind: use this opportunity to go for more dips in the Danube, and .. I wonder what the floods of late-autumn will bring, because .. inevitably .. this super dry summer means there will be heavier rains in October. Might be we look back in a month or two and wish we had this dry heat back again, who knows ..
Either way, neither city is particularly comfortable in the heat. A hundred or so years ago, the heat retention was a feature. Now it’s a bug.
- touwer 2mo agoIt's so dry, even in tne Netherlands and north of France. Amazing how quickly it goes
- MomsAVoxell 2mo agoI can’t imagine what the Netherlands would look like if desertification would occur. It seems implausible that those flat, flat lands would ever turn brown and grey and dusty - but I won’t be surprised if things turn that way in a few years. I hope the Dutch have a solution, they always seem to when it comes to water control ..
- microtonal 2mo agoI think currently one of the biggest risks for The Netherlands is salinization. If there is not enough river water and the groundwater level is too low, sea water will push upward, contaminating the river beds and increasingly much soil around it. This summer they had to close locks to block seawater and to increase the fresh water level. Of course, this has a considerable economic damage, since it blocks inland shipping.
- jorvi 2mo agoNetherlands is also in a much worse position due to being downstream of literally everyone. It's going to be a huge future fight in the EU because all countries upstream will want to retain 'all' the water and the remaining low flow will still have all those countries their industries dumping toxic waste, meaning the ratio of water-waste will get ridiculous.
- MrDresden 2mo agoThe Rhine, which becomes the Waal in the Netherlands, has been exceptionally low now for most of the summer and caused major issues for shipping. It has only a single waterlock and so there is no retention of the water in it when a period of draughts like the ones this summer happen. Germany has had a project for adding water locks to the Rhine ongoing in burocracy purgatory for the last 26 years now, and if this situation doesn't shake things up I don't think anything ever will.
- crote 2mo agoI would argue the opposite. There is still enough water, it is just unevenly distributed over the year. Previously winter snow was retained in the Alps and released as it melted during the summer, nowadays winter rain immediately comes downstream as giant floods. If upstream countries were able to retain a significant portion of those floods and release it as a trickle during the summer, The Netherlands wouldn't have any problems. It is literally impossible for it to be worse than it currently is. Besides, most of the water used in The Netherlands does not come from the large rivers, but from local rainfall. The drought is due to sticking to the historical policy of trying to immediately get rid of any excess water, rather than retaining it locally. No need to do anything EU-wide to solve that, just get the farmers to accept that the land will be a bit soggy in the winter.
- artisinal 2mo agoDrought in The Netherlands is artificial though. Millionaire farmers are pumping up water to water their crops during the day. Due to the heat most of the spray evaporates before it touches the plants. During the winter they artificially lower the ground water level for personal benefit. Also of this so they can gain even more millions by exporting all the food across the border. Time to block some more highways, destroy some more property and kill some more people in order to secure those sweet EU subsidies.
- MrDresden 2mo agoNot saying that Dutch farmers don't use a lot of water overall, but they have some of the most effective farming practices on the planet when it comes to water usage.
- artisinal 2mo agoThat doesn’t change the fact that the millionaire megafarmers completely screwed over Dutch water management for personal gains. Did you know that farmers are basically completely in control of waterschappen despite only bringing in a couple percent of the GDP.
- crote 2mo agoCorrect, but those very same practices are causing huge damages to the local environment and economy, while the farming relies on foreign imports to function and the majority of its production is exported. Rather than exporting farming products, The Netherlands should focus on exporting farming practices.
- Timon3 2mo agoThis is fairly off-topic, but: > tne broke my brain for a second. Still does, to be honest. I don't think I remember seeing this typo before!
- throw-the-towel 2mo agoI think Hungary is supposed to be dry though? Not this dry, sure, but still.
- MomsAVoxell 2mo agoSure, it gets dry in summer, it’s not always so lush - at least in my experience over the years. But, parks of dead grass, and dust devils blowing in the corners? Can’t say I’ve seen that much over the decades of visiting the region. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much dry, dead grass. I, for one, am very grateful for my neighborhood turning the streets into cooler, greener little oases for pedestrians. Perhaps those eucalyptus trees the Schönbrunner Zoo keeps for its koalas will be of use in providing avenues of shade in the decades to come, who knows …
- fodkodrasz 2mo agoHungary was largely swamps and marshlands in the past, much of which was drained to give way for large-field monocultural agriculture, this started in the 19th century, and was further developed, until we got here. Now the "non-existent climate change" is added to that, and I wonder if our forests will survive me... Also soil erosion is a problem, so I think I'll live to get it all to a desert.
- barbazoo 2mo ago> because .. inevitably .. this super dry summer means there will be heavier rains in October What's the process here for that region? I don't think the moisture is waiting anywhere.
- Ekaros 2mo agoFinland has escaped most of the heat of Central Europe. We have had hard rains occasionally, but overall not that much more rain. From stats look like 100-150% of historic numbers. So it has really not rained outside the high pressure zone. So I am not really sure where it all would be.
- Thlom 2mo agoWest coast of Norway. 12-15 degrees and rain most of the summer.
- jjtheblunt 2mo agothat sounds wonderful from the ~1000 square miles of Phoenix, Arizona, where a century of concrete and asphalt retain so much heat that the clouds bounce around the borders of the heat bubble overhead, unable to dump rain regularly enough to evaporate away the stored heat, but with rainfall regularly visible outside the edges of the metropolitan area, in the wide open skies.
- downut 2mo agoMy wife and I retired to Tucson last year, and intentionally went through this first summer just to get the full experience. Never again! We've been under flash flood warnings the last several days and have only had a few sprinkles to go with the 108F days. So... I had a look at Eureka CA weather this morning. Looks like Western Norway. Nice. Spending July and August up there might be mandatory for our mental health. We spent 3 years in Tempe back in the '80s. It sucked then too.
- 2mo ago
- lukaslalinsky 2mo agoI had a similar observation this year. In 2015, I was in California, was doing some hiking on the weekends, and I found it very unnatural how all the grasses were dry, trails dusty, on the hills/mountains. I came back to Slovakia, and I was happy to see the green grass. Fast-forward to 2026, and our grasses are equally dry and trails are equally dusty. Water management seems to be more important than ever, because this is only going to get worse. Maybe we need to build massive reservoirs, to retain the flood water somehow, if we want to keep living here in the next 100 years.
- bobthepanda 2mo agoUnderground cisterns are generally the way to do it and even the Romans were building them
- zeristor 2mo agoThe UK had a hugely wet start to the year, but that’s part of the pattern. More intense rain fall then dry spells. The high prolonged hot spells, with the wind can really make a lot of the land dry out. So many dead and dying Field Maples around
- bobthepanda 2mo agoDon’t really know what that has to do with my comment
- ffsm8 2mo agoMeh, almost nobody will want to live in most of Europe post AMOC collapse in 20-40 yrs
- jamonserrano 2mo agoAs far as I remember, here in Budapest - apart from a handful of quick showers - it rained exactly once all summer, and altogether about four times since the end of winter. The city is estimated to lose a third of its trees in the next 10-15 years. The summer heat, the drought, combined with winter cold spells and now usual late spring frosts have all but destroyed the country's agriculture too. The new government has initiated a water retention plan, but it might be too little to late.
- tyrabound 2mo ago[dead]
- ricardobayes 2mo agoBalaton's current level is something like... 40-50cm so yeah you're right. This is unprecedented
- MomsAVoxell 2mo agoWow, that's kind of incredible. I've always been able to walk out into parts of it for quite a distance in prior visits over the years but I'm guessing this new average is an extreme.
- locallost 2mo agoTo be honest, it's not unusual for that part of the Europe to be pretty yellow in August. I was taking train rides to Budapest regularly between 2010-2020. But it's getting worse for sure.
- epolanski 2mo agoAs an European, no, current situation is unprecedented. It was getting bad already, but like this? Absurd.
- locallost 2mo agoI agree with that, but was specifically referring to the description of everything being very dry in that area. I noticed this already 15 years ago, the area around Budapest was much more yellow and dry compared to countries up north. But yes, the intensity and especially the duration of the heat has intensified. I stopped visiting my family in the south of Europe around five years ago, and visit in either fall or spring. Can't really take the heat, it's not worth it.
- MomsAVoxell 2mo agoI have been living in the area for 26 years or so, and while its not unusual to have dryness in summer, it is visibly more intense lately .. The cities will have to refactor themselves to avoid becoming ovens.
- epolanski 2mo agoI don't think it ever got to the current levels where even nuclear plants had to be stopped due to lack of water in the Danube.
- locallost 2mo agoProbably not. But it's not the first time the grass is no longer green in August. The only thing I said really.
- tyrabound 2mo agoIt’s not really a common perspective, but I have a theory that the primary cause of especially this kind of drought has way more to do with Europe essentially draining itself through all of the river straightening projects of the 19th century. How could it not be. Before all the industrial age river straightening that has gone on until even rather recently with damming and concrete encasement projects in I think even the 1990s, you not only prevented the river water, i.e., mountain glacial waters and evaporative rain waters from meandering and saturating the lowlands, but you even speed up the pace not to mention shortening the distance. Sure, it wasn’t a fast process, but as anyone who has had a small water leak in their home can tell you, constant flow of water at even a small rate adds up over 24/7/365 and 200 years. You’ve literally not just been draining all your fresh water into the ocean, but you’ve been draining your water battery in the form of the saturated wetlands, soil and structures like the gravel aquifers of Central Europe of water. More people are befuddled why there is a drought after they drained the water cycle battery for 200 years, not to mention that the European population has almost quadrupled over that time and people used far less water in the past, not even to mention that the EU is doing to drive tens of millions of more people into Europe. Ironically and in seemingly typical contradictory and counterproductive manner, the EU seems to quietly and maybe even ignorantly agree with me based on several directives and regulations they’ve been passing to restore some wetlands, river flows, and floodplains. Unfortunately it’s very little and very late (as people may be noticing) the rule of thumb is that what was destroyed takes at least 6x the effort to restore.
- ignoramous 2mo ago> not even to mention that the EU is doing to drive tens of millions of more people into Europe Interesting how lived perception of resource scarcity and socio-economic change will attribute it all to ... others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_theories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_theories
- rickydroll 2mo agoThat's a really good point. I've seen some work on retaining moisture in the desert, and if memory serves, the successful ones create small check dams to retard water flow down a watercourse, giving it time to soak into the ground and replenish groundwater. It would be interesting to see whether one could apply that to European waterways as part of marshland regeneration.
- pfdietz 2mo agoEl Nino involves moving moisture around, not just reducing precipitation all over. So the opposite can also be seen in some places. The eastern US and parts of the midwest have had a very good year, an the US harvest of maize is projected to be the 2nd highest ever, slightly above 16 billion bushels. Locally (New York state), things have been so wet we're seeing premature leaf drops from maple trees due to leaf fungus (tar spot disease).
- irishcoffee 2mo ago[flagged]
- johnofthesea 2mo agoCan you be more specific?
- irishcoffee 2mo agoWater is lost in drops a year to the universe. It’s raining somewhere. The EU having a poor memory of historical weather patterns. Yes, I think climate change is real and we need to fix it. Droughts have been recorded in history for centuries, long before climate change would have ever existed. Let’s fix the climate, let’s also try and be rational about historical regional weather patterns.
- jaskerr 2mo agoWhat part of NY are you in? Here in northern Central NY we’ve been ‘abnormally dry’ all summer long. The forecasters keep promising rain, but it’s little more than a sprinkle when it arrives. Lawns are brown. Trees are dropping leaves, but that’s to slow evaporation.
- pfdietz 2mo agoAround Ithaca. If I go to https://www.drought.gov/ https://www.drought.gov/ and look at New York state, there's only two fairly small patches of D0 (the lowest drought category, actually "pre-drought") in the state; the rest is not under drought. https://www.drought.gov/states/new-york https://www.drought.gov/states/new-york Overall the state is 2.56" above normal for precipitation in 2026. Tompkins County is 4.3" above normal.
- sleepyguy 2mo agoYou don't have to take a train trip, all the grass along side the roadways looks like straw, at least around St Marx/Arena Wien/Gasometer.
- MomsAVoxell 2mo agoVery true. When the Praterallee starts getting dusty, I’ll start worrying harder, though .. meanwhile, it’s an absolutely delightful environment.
- rcbdev 2mo agoFor what it's worth, please do not go for a dip in the Danube river proper here in Vienna, the currents are too dangerous for bathing and there is no official bathing spot anywhere for this reason. Instead, visit our other waters such as the lakes of the Old Danube or the high-water protection side-arm New Danube.
- MomsAVoxell 2mo agoYes, good clarification, I personally spend my times at Grillplatz 11 on the Neue Donau side of Donau Insel (Danube Island) .. it has been a wonderful summer and the water is delightful. Very safe and rewarding swim, every time.
- phillc73 2mo agoAlso an Australian living in Austria (there’s a few of us), although not in Vienna. Whenever I return to Australia (also mostly rural locations) the major difference I notice is bird life. There are so many more birds in Australia. Maybe they’re just noisier. We put feeders out in our Austrian garden and do see plenty of small birds, as well as woodpeckers, crows and pigeons. However, in Australia there are lots of small birds too, like finches and wrens. As well as magpies, currawongs and the large noisy flocks of galahs and sulphur crested cockatoos. King parrots and rosellas regularly seen. Maybe it’s a regional Australia phenomenon, but it really stands out to me.
- eastbound 2mo agoThat's my memory of Sydney to. In Europe we sold every land parcel, reduced their habitat (forests) to 100m blocks, then 50m, then a public park with scientific studies used to justify that they'll be better off in the park... then they die. Turns out all scientific studies are paid out by promoters and everyone has a price.
- ionwake 2mo agohow could a world gov body not become corrupt but also rule over easily corruptible groups that are self interested - ie like those who slowly sell teh land to developers and reduce ecosystems to nothing to the detriment to the greater good? I dont know
- MomsAVoxell 2mo agoThe October flood of crows and other migratory birds down the Danube, past Vienna, is pretty awesome though, to be fair. Like a river of birds in the sky each day, and it is an inspiring sight indeed.
- boogieknite 2mo agoits been decades since visiting Austria but when i visited Freiburg 5 years ago it seemed like there were only birds where people were feeding them and our walks in the black forest were noticeably quiet because we heard NO bugs. the lack of buzzing was eerie. im from northwest US seen Germany's insect decline written about but didnt expect it to be noticeable
- ekr 2mo agoVery similar experience with Romania and the Netherlands. I grew up in western Romania (was born in the mid '90s), and moved to the Netherlands over 5 years ago. When I first came here, I was stunned by how green everything was, being mid-summer. But this summer I just realized that many areas have a yellowish hue. Vegetation has dried up in some places, something I don't remember witnessing around here before. I occasionally watch development of infrastructure projects in Romania, videos such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eETeHvExMxw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eETeHvExMxw . This is completely different from what I used to remember. Completely dry fields. Fields used to be green at this time of the year. So much dust everywhere. I do think I'll return one day, because somehow there's still some part of me that's melancholic about the places I've grown up in. But it now seems that if I wait many more years it will be a completely different landscape than the one I left, and not in a good sense.
- pseudohadamard 2mo agoI took a train from Berlin to Hungary. DB at one end, MAV at the other. The ensuing week in the Czech Republic was lovely.
- xaxbxcxdxe 2mo agoIts already culling bio diversity. Birches are all gone, still standing but dead.
- irthomasthomas 2mo agoSatellite data measuring Leaf Area Index shows a strong trend of global greening, not desertification. About 50% of land shows accelerated re-greening, including in europe, while only about 8% shows browning. There is no scientific case for desertification, which would be a surprise when we are pumping the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses. "The global greening continues despite increased drought stress since 2000" https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024GEcoC..4902791C/abstract https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024GEcoC..4902791C/abstra... "Earth observation data shows that most European urban areas are becoming greener" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264275126004968 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02642...