Summer 2022 expected to become driest summer since records began

Météolux predicts that the summer of 2022 will be the driest since records began in 1947. According to Météolux's preliminary assessment, cumulative summer precipitation is approximately 70% below the average for the last thirty years.

So far, 66.2 litres of rainfall per square metre have been recorded. This is drastically lower than the average of 217 litres per square metre of precipitation over the reference period 1991-2020. The current summer is thus the driest summer ever observed at the Météolux station since 1947. Until now, the summer of 1976 was the reference with 99.8 l/m².

The record for the driest summer is therefore likely to be broken, even if precipitation is still expected in the next few days.

On these two satellite photos taken almost a year apart, the extent of the drought of this year's summer is clearly visible to the naked eye. The picture on the left shows the situation in Luxembourg on 21 July 2021. The one on the right shows the situation on 10 August 2022. These two photos were chosen because the low cloud cover allows for a good view of the country.

In detail, with 46.4 l/m², June 2022 is about 36% below the long-term average (73.0 l/m²). July 2022 shows a monthly accumulation of 6.8 l/m², which is about 91% below the long-term average. It is even the 3rd driest July in the country's history, the absolute record being held by July 1949 with only 2.2 l/m².

So far, August 2022 has a cumulative precipitation of 13.0 l/m² compared to the long-term average of 71.9 l/m² for 1991-2020. With only 22 days of precipitation, the summer of 2022 is currently well below the long-term average (40.2 days).