1540 European drought

The 1540 drought in Europe was a climatic event in Europe. In various palaeoclimatic analyses the temperature and precipitation regimes were reconstructed and compared to present-day conditions.

On the basis of historical records Wetter et al. (2014)[1] derived that during an eleven-month period there was little rain in Europe, possibly qualifying as a megadrought.[2] These conclusions however were questioned by Büntgen et al. (2015)[3] on the basis of additional data (tree rings).

Orth et al. (2016)[4] concluded that in summer 1540 the mean temperature was above the 1966–2015 mean and with a probability of 20% exceeded that of the 2003 summer.

Description
The Schwedenfass in the Staatlicher Hofkeller Würzburg was created to host the "once-in-a-millennium wine" of 1540

The Swiss historian Christian Pfister described the events of 1540 in a newspaper interview:[5]

For eleven months, there was practically no rain, temperatures were five to seven degrees [Celsius] [9–13 °F] above the normal values for the 20th century, in many places summer temperatures must have exceeded 40 °C (104 °F). Many forests in Europe went up in flames, choking smoke darkened the sun, not a single thunderstorm was reported in the summer of 1540. Water was already scarce in May, wells and springs dried up, mills stood still, people starved, livestock was slaughtered. Estimates are that in 1540 half a million people died, mostly from dysentery.

Everything began in northern Italy, with a winter that felt like a July. Not a single drop fell from October 1539 to early April 1540. Then the drought advanced north. ... July brought such a frightful ember-like heat that churches made prayers while the Rhine, Elbe and Seine could be waded through without getting one's feet wet. Where there was still water, the warm broth acquired a green colour, and dead fish floated belly-up. Water levels in Lake Constance sank to record low levels, and Lindau actually became connected to the mainland. Soon the surface water had completely evaporated, soils broke up, some dry cracks were so wide that a foot would fit into them. ...

The first grapes were already ripe by 12 August, in Alsace fruit trees bloomed a second time, in Lindau it was actually enough for a second cherry harvest. At Lake Constance and in Bayreuth wine eventually became cheaper than water, and in Limoges winemakers were harvesting roasted grapes, from which they obtained sherry-like wine, which ... made one quickly drunk.[5][6]

From the city of Münden there is a description of how in the year 1540 the ducal wine from the vineyard at Questenberg was "so excellent" that it was preferred to foreign wine.[7]

In the Swiss village of Goldiwil, "desperate people went over 500 m [1,600 ft] up and down in elevation every day, only to fill a few barrels of water in Lake Thun".[8]

See also

References
  1. Wetter, Oliver; et al. (2014). "The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540 – a worst case". Climatic Change. 125 (3–4): 349–363. Bibcode:2014ClCh..125..349W. doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1184-2. S2CID 153965334.
  2. "Megadrought". Encyclopedia of Environmental Change. 2014. doi:10.4135/9781446247501.n2421. ISBN 9781446247112.
  3. Büntgen, Ulf; Tegel, Willy; Carrer, Marco; Krusic, Paul J.; Hayes, Michael; Esper, Jan (2015). "Commentary to Wetter et al. (2014): Limited tree-ring evidence for a 1540 European 'Megadrought'". Climatic Change. 131 (2): 183–190. Bibcode:2015ClCh..131..183B. doi:10.1007/s10584-015-1423-1. S2CID 54877607.
  4. Orth, Rene; Vogel, Martha M.; Luterbacher, Jürg; Pfister, Christian; Seneviratne, Sonia I. (2016). "Did European temperatures in 1540 exceed present-day records?". Environmental Research Letters. 11 (11): 114021. Bibcode:2016ERL....11k4021O. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/11/114021. S2CID 157372989.
  5. Andreas Frey (11 August 2018). "Europas vernichtende Jahrtausenddürre". Spektrum.de. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  6. German:
    Elf Monate fiel damals so gut wie kein Regen, die Temperatur lag fünf bis sieben Grad über den Normalwerten des 20. Jahrhunderts, verbreitet muss die Temperatur im Hochsommer über 40 Grad geklettert sein. Unzählige Waldgebiete in Europa gingen in Flammen auf, beißender Rauch trübte das Sonnenlicht, im ganzen Sommer 1540 wurde kein einziges Gewitter registriert. Schon im Mai wurde das Wasser knapp, Brunnen und Quellen fielen trocken, die Mühlen standen still, die Leute hungerten, das Vieh wurde notgeschlachtet. In Europa starben in jenem Jahr schätzungsweise eine Million Menschen, die meisten an Ruhr. Alles begann in Norditalien, mit einem Winter, der sich wie ein Juli anfühlte. Kein Tropfen fiel von Oktober 1539 bis Anfang April 1540. Dann griff die Dürre auf den Norden über. ... Der Juli brachte eine solche fürchterliche Gluthitze, dass die Kirchen Bittgebete aussandten, während Rhein, Elbe und Seine trockenen Fußes durchwatet werden konnten. Dort, wo noch Wasser floss, färbte sich die warme Brühe grün, Fische trieben darin kieloben. Der Bodenseepegel sank auf Rekordniveau, Lindau war sogar mit dem Festland verbunden. Bald verdunstete das Oberflächenwasser vollständig, die Böden platzten auf, manche Trockenrisse waren so groß, dass ein Fuß darin Platz fand. Die ersten Trauben waren schon am 12. August reif, im Elsass blühten bald die Obstbäume erneut, in Lindau reichte es sogar für eine zweite Kirschernte. Am Bodensee und in Bayreuth war Wein irgendwann billiger als Wasser, und in Limoges ernteten die Winzer geröstete Trauben, aus denen sie sherryähnlichen Wein gewannen, der sehr schnell betrunken machte.
  7. Wilhelm Lotze. Geschichte der Stadt Münden nebst Umgebung mit besonderer Hervorhebung der Begebenheiten des dreißigjährigen und siebenjährigen Krieges, 1878, p. 46.
  8. Andreas, Frey (4 August 2018). "Elf Monate ohne Regen: Die Angst vor der Megadürre des Jahres 1540 geht um". NZZ (in German). Retrieved 12 August 2018.

Literature
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