Reservoir Watch

In the three months to 21 October 2026, none of the 21 reservoir sites we track in Cyprus was short of rain; 21 had more rain than normal. The EU drought indicator, which also weighs soil moisture and vegetation, had 0.3% of the country on watch or worse. The 21 reservoirs were 36.5% full on their latest readings.

“Much less rain than normal” means the last three months were drier than about five in six of the same seasons on record at that point; “extremely little” drier than about thirty-nine in forty. The measure is the Copernicus Global Drought Observatory's three-month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI-3), on a 25 km grid; the first threshold is roughly where the U.S. Drought Monitor starts D1 (moderate drought), so this headline reads like the Monitor's, though the Monitor also weighs soil moisture, streamflow and local reports. The EU drought indicator is the European Drought Observatory's Combined Drought Indicator: Watch means rain has been short, Warning that the soil has dried out, Alert that vegetation is visibly stressed. All of it describes conditions on the ground, not how much water is stored; a reservoir can be full after a dry season and low after a wet one. Source: drought.emergency.copernicus.eu. European Drought Observatory / Global Drought Observatory, https://drought.emergency.copernicus.eu © European Commission – JRC. Licensed CC BY 4.0.