“England received just 35% (23.1mm) of the average rainfall for the month,” the UK Met Office said in a statement on Monday.
The south and east of the country were particularly hard hit by the lack of rainfall. Southern England recorded the driest July on record since 1836, with just 17% of average rainfall, according to the Met Office.
Like the rest of Europe, the British Isles experienced a record heat wave in July. The UK has seen temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for the first time, with a record temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius set on July 19 in Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
In France, only 7.8 mm of rain fell in July, the country’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Bechu, told FranceInfo radio on Monday.
“We have a deficit of 88% compared to what would be needed,” Bechu added.
The July heat wave has sparked raging wildfires in the western and southern parts of the country, and another heat wave is expected to hit France this week.
Temperatures in the southwest could reach 40 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, according to forecasts by the country’s meteorological service, Météo France.
Forest fires are breaking out in the south of France, the largest of which in the Gard department has destroyed more than 350 hectares (more than 860 acres) of forest by Sunday night, according to the local fire service.
Nearly half of Europe, including the UK, is “at risk” of drought, researchers from the European Commission’s Joint Research Center warned July 18.
A “staggering proportion” of 44% of the European Union and the UK is subject to a drought warning, with 9% on drought alert, the researchers said.
