Europe, Western

The countries of western Europe are susceptible to a number of natural disasters, and the area has reported a rising number of extreme and varied weather events since 1960, which some scientists attribute to global climate change. Those conditions have set the stage for disasters of varied proportions. In the summer of 1962–63, England experienced its coldest winter since 1740. In the early 1970s, Finland underwent its greatest heat wave since recordkeeping began in the 1750s. During the mid-1970s, the great European drought resulted in a severe soil moisture deficit that wreaked havoc in the agricultural community and affected people all over Europe. Conditions in Denmark and the Netherlands were made worse during the drought by a major heatwave that occurred simultaneously. The countries of ...