My Climate Change Garden

The Euro Crisis is not the only thing to be concerned about if you are living in Europe during 2012.

Drought is causing serious problems for many countries. Large parts of Spain and Portugal are desperate for rain, after the driest Iberian winter in more than 70 years. Spain received less than 30 percent of its normal precipitation during the past winter.

With both countries in the middle of an economic crisis, many people feel it could not come at a worse time. Thousands of jobs and many millions of euros of agricultural output are threatened by this. Farmers are struggling to produce summer crops as reservoirs are almost completely empty in some areas.http://prod-euronews.euronews.net/2012/03/16/drought-hammers-spain-portugal/

The map  above gives the highest and lowest annual minimum temperatures of European countries – if you want to see more detail for a country click http://www.gardenweb.com/zones/europe/.

The detailed climate zone map for the UK refers to -12c  and it is true that up until the last two winters, the frequency of such low temperatures in SE England was very rare. However, winter 2010/11 saw temperatures drop this low in many parts of England, including the South and East. Predictions are that UK winters could become even colder as climate change affects the flow of the oceans.

The French Alps are already feeling the effects of climate change with 25% of the Glaciers in the French Alps having disapeared in  the past 40 years, according to new research. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16025568

As the world waits to see what sort of Europe will emerge over the next few weeks, this map signifies even bigger  climatic threats over the next 50 years.  As climate change affects weather patterns across Europe, countries will become challenged not just by a lack of money but a serious shortage of our most precious resource – WATER.