Severe Drought, Famine Feared?

The last two months has been fantastic from a vacation/parental leave point of view. With temperatures in the range of 20-30 degrees Celsius, only a few cloudy days and almost no rain at all, it has been a great summer.

However, I'm more and more concerned about the weather and the consequenses of the drought.

According to SMHI Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute), the recent statistics for May and June indicates very dry and warm months. For May,  the average temperature was 4-5 degrees above average and there was some 2,3 millimeters of rain (measured in Lund). June had some more rain, but only a fraction of the average.

Temperatures in May in 2018, as a deviation from the average temperatures. 

Rainfall in May in 2018, in percent of the average rainfall.
The forecast indicates high temperatures and no rain at all. This summer will be a very dry one.

In my hometown, I can see the consequences of the drought. The grass goes yellow and the soil is visible on many places.


A park in central Malmö 
The soil is breaking through the yellow grass
As a consequence, the groundwater reservoirs are getting empty.

A far more serious consequence is the lost harvests in Sweden. The projected harvest in Skåne is some 30-50% of a normal harvest - in the best case half, in the worst case only a third. Thanks to international trade and the European Union, there will probably be no food shortage, but we should be very alarmed regarding our reduced ability to feed our selves.

In January 2017, extreme weather conditions in Europe caused shortages in fruit and vegetables.
Sign in a local supermarket in January 2017: "Due to extreme weather conditions in the Mediterranean, the harvests has been destroyed. Some goods will not be available for some time."
I'm afraid that we will see more signs like the one above in the future. Droughts are a now reality for us in Sweden, reducing our harvests and forcing us to import more food from other countries.

Finally, two tributes to the farmers that work hard to feed us all. 

One from Norway



And one from the US:



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