Scientists can only guess whether the drought is a harbinger of global warming.
The south of England is experiencing weather more normally associated with the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean is suffering from virtually sub-Saharan weather. The hot northern hemisphere summer of 1990 comes after a hot dry summer in 1989, when in Marseille rainfall was half of normal, and in Athens 40 percent of normal. In France, water utilities in more than half the country have restricted water use. Among the damage bills, France loses a quarter of its corn crop. Athens plans to import water by super tanker as water supplies become perilously low.