The Water Is Warmer Than the Air: Creuse Faces an Exceptional Drought

Creuse is one of the greenest and most water-rich departments in central France. This makes what is happening there this summer all the more alarming: water temperatures of up to 32.9 degrees have been recorded in some rivers and streams - values that at times even exceed air temperatures. What initially sounds like an extraordinary weather phenomenon actually illustrates the scale of an ecological crisis. The urgently needed rain has failed to arrive for months. Numerous smaller waterways are carrying only a fraction of their usual volume of water, and ...