THE DROUGHT OF THE SUMMER OF 2012 IN OLTENIA - CLIMATIC RISK PHENOMENON.SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

The summer of 2012 has been the fourth excessively droughty and hot summer registered in Oltenia since the year 2000. Although it came after an episode of severe winter registered in the interval 24th of January-15th of February and after a rainy spring which helped restoring the water reserve in the soil, the drought of summer which had a space-time extension of 81.2% was accompanied by long intervals of extremely hot weather- with canicular days and scorching heat days which were persistent and intense, leading to a high degree of crop damage, a major impact on the production and socio-economic life. As a phenomenon of climatic risk, the drought in the summer of 2012 marked a new climatic oscillation in the South of the country- July 2012 has been the warmest month in the last 52 yearsand an important analysis in a series of extended studies on the variability of the climate in the South-West of Romania, the region called Oltenia