Veći dio Slovenije pogođen je sve većom sušom

Most of Slovenia is suffering from increasingly severe drought conditions, according to environmental agency data. The situation has worsened significantly over the past month, with temperatures consistently above average and rainfall remaining minimal, largely restricted to localized thunderstorms and light showers. As a result, water availability across different regions has become highly uneven, with many areas experiencing extreme dryness. The Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for the Environment (Arso) reports that the majority of the country is currently facing drought conditions, with some regions experiencing particularly severe shortages. From late June until Wednesday, temperatures remained well above normal, while precipitation was limited to sporadic local rainfalls. This has led to considerable variation in rainfall distribution across the country, even among neighboring regions. Overall, the territory of Slovenia has been found to be under-watered, with the central parts of the country, including the Lower Sava Valley and the Drava Basin, showing signs of extremely dry conditions. In particular, the Upper Sava region, the Gorizia area, and the southern-eastern part of Slovenia have recorded very low levels of soil moisture. The severity of the drought is expected to continue into the coming days, with forecasts indicating another period of unusually hot weather without significant rainfall. This will likely lead to further deterioration of current drought conditions in surface layers of the soil. According to long-term averages, the last 30-day period in Slovenia has seen periods of dryness ranging from moderate to very dry. However, the extreme south-west and west of the country have maintained normal rainfall patterns. The rainfall index typically ranges from 20% to 80% of the long-term average. Throughout much of the country, the recent period has been marked by exceptionally warm weather. Temperature deviations range from 0.8 to 2.3 degrees Celsius above normal. River flows have decreased significantly, with low and extremely low flow conditions being recorded at approximately 60% of monitoring stations throughout the country. Rivers such as the Mura, Drava, Sava, and Ljubljana have shown the lowest water levels for this time of year. These river levels are expected to continue declining, with larger rivers maintaining notably low water levels. Additionally, more smaller rivers are gradually falling below the usual minimum level for this season, according to Arso. In many parts of the country, there has been a continued period of moderate groundwater drought, with the Savinja region experiencing particularly severe conditions. The situation has also deteriorated to very dry conditions in the aquifers of the Bohinj, Prekmurje, Kocje, and Koroska regions. Local rains in the previous week did not contribute meaningfully to groundwater recovery, and groundwater levels have been steadily decreasing across the entire country. Looking ahead, the upcoming days will see continued dominance of clear and very hot weather. A change in weather conditions is expected only towards the end of the following week, as stated by Arso.