SIRMIONE Italy -- Italy's worst drought in decades has reduced Lake Garda, the country's largest lake to near its lowest level ever recorded, exposing swaths of previously underwater rocks and warming the water to temperatures that approach the average in the Caribbean Sea.
Tourists flocking to the popular northern lake Friday for the start of Italy's summer long weekend found a vastly different landscape than in previous years. An expansive stretch of bleached rock extended far from the normal shoreline, ringing the southern Sirmione Peninsula with a yellow halo between the green hues of the water and the trees on the shore.
We came last year, we liked it, and we came back this year," said Beatrice Masi, who sat on the rocks. We found that the landscape had changed a lot. We were a bit shocked when we arrived because we had our usual walk around, and the water wasn't there. Northern Italy hasn't seen significant rainfall for months, and snowfall this year was down 70%, drying up important rivers like the Po, which flows across Italy's agricultural and industrial heartland. Many European countries, including Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and Britain, are suffering from a severe drought this summer, which has hurt farmers and shippers and promoted authorities to restrict water use.
The parched condition of the Po, Italy's longest river, has already caused billions of euros in losses for farmers who normally rely on it to irrigate fields and rice paddies.
More water from Lake Garda was allowed to flow into local rivers - 2,472 cubic feet of water per second. They reduced the amount in late July to protect the lake and the financially important tourism tied to it.
With 1,589 cubic feet of water per second being diverted to rivers, the lake was 12.6 inches above the water table, close to the record lows in 2003 and 2007 and close to the record lows in 2003 and 2007.
Garda Mayor Davide Bedinelli said he had to protect both farmers and the tourist industry. He stated that the summer tourist season was going better than expected despite cancellations from German tourists during Italy's latest heat wave in late July.
Bendinelli wrote on July 20 that the tourist season is not in danger, because of the fact that we have to deal with this year.
He said the lake was losing 78 inches of water a day.
The lake's temperature has been above average for August, according to seatemperature.org. On Friday, the water of the Garda was nearly 78 degrees Fahrenheit, a number that was several degrees warmer than the average August temperature of 71.6 and near the Caribbean Sea's average of around 80 degrees.
The lake's expanded shoreline means fewer people are renting his chairs because there are now plenty of rocks on which to sunbathe, according to Mario Treccani, who owns a lakefront concession of beach chairs and umbrellas.
He said that the lake is usually a meter or more than a meter higher.
He noted that sometimes waves from the lake would splash onto the tourists on windy days, because of a small wall that usually blocks the water from the beach chairs.
It is a bit sad. Before, you could hear the sound of waves breaking up here. He said that you don't hear anything.