by EFAS Hydrological Data Collection Centre

During the month of December, there were 200 stations with exceedances, more than in the previous month. Most of the stations are in Spain (43) and Italy (28) where exceedances relate to water levels. Other countries also stand out with exceedances, for example, Slovenia (25), Croatia (24), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (20).

In addition, there are 11 stations in Germany and Serbia, eight in Ukrania, and seven in Poland. Several countries show exceedances to a lesser extent this month: Hungary (5), Romania (5), Slovakia (3), Ireland (3), Iceland (2), and only one station with values above the threshold in Austria, Lithuania, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.

As with the previous month, the most prominent river basin with values above the threshold is the Danube, with 87 stations spanning across ten different countries with Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina standing out. The Minho river in Spain and the Po river in Italy are the next highlighted basins with the highest number of stations, 20 and 19 respectively.

In terms of the stations that recorded values above the 90% quantile, 106 exceeded this threshold in December. This month, Spain is the country with the most stations in this situation (37). Poland (16) and Norway (15) are the second and third countries with the highest number of stations. The Spanish stations are distributed in 13 different basins, highlighting Jucar and Guadiana Basins. In Ukraine, ten stations show values above this quantile. In Serbia, there are six stations that exceed this cliff and four in Croatia. Other stations exceed the 90% quantile value in up to nine countries.

By river basin, it is the Danube River the one that stands out with 17 stations. The Danube River has exceedances in six countries, with the highest number of stations in Serbia (6). The Vistula river basin shows 15 stations in Poland and one in Ukraine. A total of 33 different river basins have exceedances over the 90% quantile.

Finally, and according to the number of stations recording mean values below the 10% quantile, we can find a decrease of around 40%. In the month of December, there were 62 stations with average values below this cliff, which indicates 10 different countries.

This month, Norway (13) and Spain (14) are the countries with the most stations, followed by Poland with nine stations. France has seven stations with values below this threshold, followed by Germany with five stations.  Sweden, Romania, Italy, Austria, and the United Kingdom all have different numbers of stations in this situation.

In terms of river basins, this month the Ebro is the river with the highest number of cases, with 10 stations with an average discharge below the 10% quantile. The Oder river, in Germany and Poland, has seven stations in the same situation. The Danube river, in Austria and Romania, and the Loire river in France have six and four stations under this cliff. In total, as many as thirty-two different basins have values below this limit.