From the Chronicles
From the Chronicles
Hungary, 1494: The summer was so dry and fervent, that no rain fell for six months, and even the major rivers practically dried out.
The summer of 1794, Kiskunhalas: The heat wave scorching the land was so severe that loaves of bread had to be distributed to the people in the spring of 1795.
Füzesgyarmat, Szeghalom, 1794: Severe droughts began in 1790, especially in the years 1794 and 1795.
As a meteorological phenomenon, drought could entail significant socio-economic consequences, whose indirect impact (affecting several years) can be greater than its direct impact, i.e., the losses of a specific economic year.
The proper quantification of droughts is of prime importance from both natural and-socio- economic standpoints. The simplest and most prevalent solution is the characterisation of the absence of precipitation. According to the guidelines of the WMO (World Meteorological Organisation), below-average precipitation, affecting agriculture, hydrological resources and various socio-economic activities, can be considered a drought if the annual quantity thereof is at most 60 per cent of the normal (historical average) value on at least half of the area concerned for at least two years.
The following years were affected by severe droughts: 1931; 1935 (this year can be considered exceptional), 1946, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. .
The damage caused by the drought of 1935 was estimated at 2 billion Pengős at the low agricultural prices of the period. This spurred the government to work out a comprehensive and extensive irrigation program, resulting in the enactment of the Act on Irrigation of 1937. With its administrative, developmental, and land and water management concepts, this law also proved a useful contribution to the irrigation development plans of subsequent decades.
The droughts of the period of 1982-1994 even aggravate the problems we face today.
In the period of 1983 to 1994, nation-wide droughts affected the country in the majority of the years (1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and perhaps 1994). It is characteristic of the droughts of the last three years that these have been the severest dry periods of our century so far on the one hand, and that winter and springtime dry spells and hot summers succeeded each other in these years on the other hand. Especially the droughts of 1991/92 and 1993 qualify as unusual natural phenomena. For example, August 1992 broke records, i.e., no August as dry as that of 1992 had been recorded in the last 110 years, since the commencement of regular measurements.
