A winter drought grips southern Europe

The small town of Vallon-Pont-d’Arc in southern France sits on the winding Ardèche river, just before it enters a deep limestone gorge. Fringed by red-tiled two-storey new-build homes, it has a gently growing population, which is boosted in the summer months by an influx of tourists and their kayaks. After yet another period of low rain, however, concern about dwindling water supplies has prompted Thierry Devimeux, the local prefect, to limit not just the use of water, but the expansion of the town altogether. It makes Vallon-Pont-d’Arc the 22nd in the surrounding in which all new building has been banned.Southern Europe is experiencing its second major drought in less than a year. This time it is an unusual one: a winter drought. For 32 consecutive days in January and February no rain fell anywhere in France—the longest dry spell in winter since monitoring began in 1959.