Czechia Faces a Rain-Free Week with Heat up to 35°C — Drought Deepens

Through the end of the week, a high-pressure system will dominate over Czechia, bringing mostly sunny skies with not a drop of rain. Forecasters say no precipitation is expected until Saturday, when a wavy cold front could sweep across the country on Sunday, bringing localised showers that may linger into early next week.

Most of the rain is expected to come in the form of brief, localised showers and thunderstorms — meaning some areas could see a decent amount of rainfall while others stay completely dry. Even where rain does fall, weather models aren't forecasting heavy downpours — just a few dozen millimetres at most. More precise figures and the boundaries of the rain zones will become clearer closer to the weekend, once higher-resolution local models are available.

Rivers Running Low, Soil Drying Out

A week without rain will only deepen the drought that has already gripped the country. According to the Intersucho.cz portal, relative soil moisture has already dropped below 10% across two-thirds of Czechia — meaning the top metre of soil has almost no water left available to plants. Even the country's major rivers are currently running at minimal flow, and some smaller streams have dried up entirely. Czech forests are also in poor condition.

The current drought is being driven not only by scarce rainfall but also by prolonged heatwaves, which accelerate moisture evaporation from the soil. Temperatures are set to climb above 30°C again this week, and forecasters aren't ruling out "super-tropical" heat exceeding 35°C over the weekend.

The Driest Start to a Year Since 1991

According to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, the period from the start of the year through August 10 has seen the lowest rainfall total since records began in 1991. On average, the country is short by about 146 millimetres of precipitation.

Experts stress that even the localised rain expected next week won't be enough to close this gap. What does fall will be split between vegetation, groundwater and surface runoff, meaning only a small fraction will actually reach the parched soil.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz