The worst drought is in the upper and lower Zemplín. (source: TASR)
Due to the lack of drinking water, an emergency situation was declared in 11 municipalities, reports the Interior Ministry.
The situation concerns themunicipalities of Volica, Dlhé Stráže, Baldovce (all Prešov Region), Drňa, Chrámec, Banská Štiavnica (Banská Bystrica Region), Pača, Richnava, Spišská Nová Ves (Košice Region), Podhorie (Žilina Region), Zubák (Trenčín Region).
The village of Pača had problems with drinking water already in June as local reservoirs were left almost empty after the spring that fed them dried up.
Precipitation deficit
According to the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMÚ), extreme drought currently affects more than half of the territory of Slovakia. In July, two significant heat waves hit the country.
"In both of these waves, new records for the maximum daily air temperature for the month of July were recorded at some meteorological stations," note meteorologists.
"The situation has worsened compared to last week, especially in western Slovakia. Extreme drought currently affects almost 60 percent of the territory, and drought of varying intensity affects almost 99 percent of the territory."
Almost the entire country is experiencing a soil moisture deficit. The highest values of minus 80 to minus 100 millimetres are in the north-west of Slovakia.
"Normal moisture conditions are only on 0.7 percent of the total area in Poprad, Gánovce, and Tisinec (all eastern Slovakia)," says SHMÚ. Even though monitoring stations indicate a slight improvement in the situation, however, very dry to extremely dry conditions still prevail in Slovakia.
SHMÚ further reports that in the last 90 days, the precipitation deficit is the highest in Banská Bystrica (minus 192 millimetres), Medzilaborce (Prešov Region, minus 176 millimetres), and Švedlár (Košice Region, minus 175 millimetres).
Record high temperatures
In July, some meteorological stations recorded the highest temperature in their history of measurements. According to SHMÚ, the hottest day was July 21 as the temperature in the village of Dolné Plachtince, the Veľký Krtíš District, reached 40 degrees Celsius.
Record high temperatures were also measured by stations in Vígľaš-Pstruša, Žiar nad Hronom, Banská Bystrica (all Banská Bystrica Region) and Prievidza (Trenčín Region).
So far, Slovakia has recorded only three days when the temperature rose above 40 degrees Celsius.
