Historically, little rain has fallen in Franconia this summer. As reported by the State Office for the Environment in Augsburg, the total amount of precipitation in northern Bavaria for the summer half-year is currently only 123 millimeters. This is “the lowest value in the 62-year observation series, still below the 148 mm from 1964,” emphasized the authority. The rainfall from May 1st to August 4th was evaluated for the statistics. For the classification of the drought, the state office orientates itself on the average of the rain of the years 1971 to 2000. In northern Bavaria only half of the precipitation of this average value was recorded this year. In southern Bavaria, the situation looks a little better at 293 mm – this corresponds to 77 percent of the average value.
Between 1992 and 2018, a total of five summers were even drier in the south. The environmental authority has been documenting such developments for several years with the so-called low water information service (NID). After there has been a flood news service for the Free State for more than 100 years, the additional service is intended to respond to the dangers of climate change. “With its measurement data and situation reports, it provides the basis for early reactions by decision-makers, especially in the water industry, in the event of low water,” explains the state office. The population can also obtain information about the NID at any time.
The low rainfall, combined with high temperatures at times, also lead to problems in the rivers and lakes, as reported by the NID. On the one hand, aquatic plants and fish are endangered because the oxygen supply in the water has deteriorated. However, bathing can also be a risk for people and dogs, because the heat promotes the spread of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, in the water. Four-legged friends who like to go into the water sometimes even die from it. “There have been mass occurrences of blue-green algae in some bodies of water for some time now,” says the latest management report. The cyanobacteria could form toxins and also cause skin reactions. “For this reason, bathing warnings and temporary bans were issued at some smaller bathing lakes and also at some larger lakes in northern Bavaria.” Sometimes slow-flowing rivers are also affected. Recently, the blue-green algae in the Upper Palatinate have therefore also appeared more frequently in the Naab between Kallmünz and Regensburg.