Large areas of Ireland are currently covered by drought warnings as warmer months approach raising fears of fresh water shortages.

Data from Copernicus, the European Union’s climate change service, shows large swathes of land in the Irish midlands and southeast covered by drought warnings.

The situation is worse in the northeast and east where drought alerts are in force.

Weather stations at Dublin Airport recorded just 16.2 mm of rainfall in February, this compared to 88.5 in 2022.

In the far south, Sherkin Island saw a total of 29.6 mm of rain, far below last year’s 101.4 mm.

Temporary water restrictions were introduced last summer in many areas of Ireland and asked people to take dwindling supplies into consideration.

As weather in Ireland and the UK continues to grow more extreme, such as Coningsby, England surpassing 40°C for the first time, water supplies will continue to face challenges.

In the UK, rainfall totals last month widely fell below the long-term average with areas in the south seeing just 20% of typical amounts recorded.

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