PARIS: France has matched its record dry spell of 31 days without significant rainfall, the country’s weather service said on Tuesday, amid concerns over water reserves in parts of Europe still reeling from last year’s severe drought.

With rainfall over the entire country of less than one millimetre a day since January 21, weather service Meteo France said the absence of precipitation equals the record set in spring 2020.

The number of days without rain has “never been seen” in winter before in records going back to 1959, Meteo France said on Tuesday.

Last month was the third-warmest January on record in Europe, with temperatures on New Year’s Day reaching all-time highs in some parts of the continent, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate monitor.

Published in Dawn, February 22th, 2023