The western European spring-summer 2022 flash drought in relation to the unusually strong anticyclone
Abstract
Flash drought is a rapidly developing form of drought characterised by anomalously rapid transitions and accelerated by soil moisture depletion, resulting in pronounced vegetation stress. It typically occurs during the growing seasons at intraseasonal timescale. This phenomenon has been attracting little scientific research attention in western Europe because of its historically low frequency of occurrence, despite its potentially severe impacts. Such impacts are projected to increase in severity due to increase from atmospheric thirst which has the potential to lead to more frequent and intense flash droughts in the future. This study investigates whether the drought event that occurred over western Europe during springsummer 2022 can be deemed as a flash drought. Using the standardised evaporative stress ratio derived from the fifth-generation global climate reanalysis data ERA5 from the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) over 1980-2024, several clusters emerged as flash drought, mainly over many parts of France, Switzerland, southern England but also in some areas of Spain, Italy, and Germany. These clusters occur between May and July 2022 and all terminated between August and September. Large-scale analysis highlights a mid-tropospheric circulation anomaly pattern characterised by a subsidence over central western Europe which is part of a stationary Rossby wave train persisting from May to July, coinciding with the flash drought onset period. This unusually strong subsidence leads to extreme hot and dry conditions at the surface, favouring flash drought development. This research illustrates the value of applying targeted flash drought frameworks to better understand the nature of rapid drying. In an increasingly water insecure future, such approaches will be critical to the long-term resilience of drought prone communities in both Europe and further afield.
Related
- The 2026 western US snow drought was about four times more likely due to climate change
- Integrating Observational Datasets and CMIP6 Projections for Multi-Scale Drought Characterization: Evidence from Western Türkiye
- A Changing North Atlantic Background Amplifies Western European Heatwaves
- European beech reproduction is not reduced by drought, including the 2003, 2018, and 2022 extremes
- Solar panel, vegetation management and legacy effects on vegetation in Western European solar parks
BibTeX
@article{nguyen2026western,
title = {{The western European spring-summer 2022 flash drought in relation to the unusually strong anticyclone}},
author = {Hanh Nguyen and Hugo Bellenger and Jean-Philippe Duvel and Jordan I Christian and Xavier Perrot and Roberta D Agostino and Beata Latos},
journal = {Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/qj.70323},
url = {https://cnrs.hal.science/hal-05759982v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The western European spring-summer 2022 flash drought in relation to the unusually strong anticyclone
AU - Hanh Nguyen
AU - Hugo Bellenger
AU - Jean-Philippe Duvel
AU - Jordan I Christian
AU - Xavier Perrot
AU - Roberta D Agostino
AU - Beata Latos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
DO - 10.1002/qj.70323
UR - https://cnrs.hal.science/hal-05759982v1
AB - Flash drought is a rapidly developing form of drought characterised by anomalously rapid transitions and accelerated by soil moisture depletion, resulting in pronounced vegetation stress. It typically occurs during the growing seasons at intraseasonal timescale. This phenomenon has been attracting little scientific research attention in western Europe because of its historically low frequency of occurrence, despite its potentially severe impacts. Such impacts are projected to increase in severity due to increase from atmospheric thirst which has the potential to lead to more frequent and intense flash droughts in the future. This study investigates whether the drought event that occurred over western Europe during springsummer 2022 can be deemed as a flash drought. Using the standardised evaporative stress ratio derived from the fifth-generation global climate reanalysis data ERA5 from the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) over 1980-2024, several clusters emerged as flash drought, mainly over many parts of France, Switzerland, southern England but also in some areas of Spain, Italy, and Germany. These clusters occur between May and July 2022 and all terminated between August and September. Large-scale analysis highlights a mid-tropospheric circulation anomaly pattern characterised by a subsidence over central western Europe which is part of a stationary Rossby wave train persisting from May to July, coinciding with the flash drought onset period. This unusually strong subsidence leads to extreme hot and dry conditions at the surface, favouring flash drought development. This research illustrates the value of applying targeted flash drought frameworks to better understand the nature of rapid drying. In an increasingly water insecure future, such approaches will be critical to the long-term resilience of drought prone communities in both Europe and further afield.
SN - 0035-9009
SN - 1477-870X
ER -