Changes in groundwater resources Meteorological background of the extreme drought of 2025

Abstract

This study presents the meteorological background of the extreme drought in Hungary in 2025. Extreme droughts have also occurred frequently in previous years, especially in 2022, causing serious difficulties in water management and agriculture. The lack of precipitation in 2022 was primarily related to the extremely warm air advection into the region, when the atmosphere was able to absorb much more moisture while remaining unsaturated than the surface could evaporate. However, the background of the 2025 drought was fundamentally due to large-scale, synoptic-scale circulation reasons. The western flow zone systematically moved further north of the Carpathian Basin, and the weather was determined by anticyclone edge situations. The stabilization of the atmosphere and the increased strengthening of the basin effect provided unfavourable conditions for precipitation formation processes.