MADRID, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Spain is expected to face a severe drought in the coming weeks or months after the second driest January on record in the country has left reservoirs at less than half of their capacity and well below the average in recent years.
Although some parts of Spain, such as its northern regions of Basque Navarre, saw higher than average rainfall in January, the rest of Spain told a very different story, and some even saw no rain or snow, plus the record-high January temperatures.
"This is the second driest January on record, in which it hasn't rained a quarter-part of what would be normal in Spain," Ruben del Campo, spokesman for the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), told Xinhua.
January followed the previous three months of less than average precipitation.
"Obviously this situation of a lack of rainfall will be noticed in our water reserves. There is not much snow and the reserves are falling," said the spokesman.
The combination of lower rainfall and higher temperatures has left Spain's reservoirs at an average of 45 percent capacity, 10 percent less than a year ago.
With only light rainfall expected in some parts of Spain in the coming days, del Campo said, the situation is not going to improve in the near future.
Stressing "long term predictions are not as accurate as short term predictions," the AEMET spokesman said that the agency has forecasted some rain in February, but "it will rain less than normal and this prediction is the same for March and April."
"If we get to the end of spring when it hasn't rained enough, we could get to a situation where reserves are so low, we will have to adopt some restrictions," he warned.
Due to lack of rainfall, an increase in wildfires was reported in January in Spain. The country saw 822 forest fires in the month, which had burned 4,000 hectares of land, 16 times more than in January 2021. ■