This past July was the second driest month in France since they started to keep record in 1959. The driest was March 1961.  The drought has  not only affected crops and the nature in general — most  vegetation has turned into vivid Fall colors already — but together with  the extended heatwave it has posed a serious wild fire hazard. Several fires — either accidental or intentional — have ravaged hectares and hectares of forests and agricultural land around the country. Luckily we have been spared so far, but despite last night’s rain, the risk is still there. To counter the problem all crops and grass has been cut as short as possible to minimize the amount of potentially burning material. Finally, it is not only the nature that has suffered, but people literally too; about a hundred communities run out of drinking water as early as in June and some tourist industries, namely river rafting and canoeing companies, have had to close.

As said, it rained a little bit last night, and there were some puddles on the ground in the morning. The rain did not raise the water level in our little river Craponoz, but the water was clearly murkier compared to before — this is very common here that heavy or not so heavy rain brings a lot of mud down from the mountain.  Here are some pictures I took on my morning run: