About 1.38 million hectares (3.4 million acres) of grains, sunflowers and olive trees have been affected by drought or frost in Spain as of the end of October, according to Spanish farming insurance agency Agroseguro.
Ortiz said his grain harvest has plunged 70 percent from last year and he expects to harvest half as many olives.
The situation is just as dire for farmers across the border in neighbouring Portugal.
"All crops are suffering from this lack of water in our region, from olives to grains and grapes," said Fremelinda Carvalho, the president of the association of farmers on Portalegre in central Portugal.
The dry fields and forests have fuelled wildfires, which killed 109 people this year in Portugal and five in Galicia, many dying in their cars as they tried to flee the flames.
– Water conflicts – Water reservoirs are at abnormally low levels.
The Tagus River "can not support" this aqueduct, said Antonio Luengo, the head of the agency that regulates water in Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha region.
– Climate risks – Experts warn droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe in the region.
Higher temperatures and rarer and more intense rains.
He cited as examples the use of water to irrigate trees that do not normally need much water such as olive and almond trees, and the planting of water intensive crops that are not suited to Spain’s Mediterranean climate.

It was a dry week for the nation as a whole, according to the United States Drought Monitor.
The map accompanying this article, released November 16, shows much of Southwest Arkansas in "severe drought" status and includes Columbia County.
A few patches near the coast recorded 6 to 12 inches of precipitation.
Across the remainder of the contiguous states, only a few small areas reported over 1.5 inches, with most locations observing little or none.
No measurable precipitation has fallen during the last 30 to 45 days in southwestern Kansas, western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and interior southern Texas while 90-day deficits are generally between 4 and 8 inches from central Mississippi westward to northeastern Texas and northward through eastern Oklahoma, much of Arkansas, and the southern half of Missouri.
The month or more without measurable precipitation was stressing winter wheat in and near western Oklahoma, prompting northwestward D0 expansion into the area.
D2 was expanded into the St. Louis, Missouri area, where low streamflows and longer-term precipitation deficits (4 to 6 months) exist.
D2 was also expanded to cover areas from southern Missouri southward into northeast Texas and northwestern Louisiana, where 3-month deficits are the largest.
A small area in west-central Arkansas and adjacent Oklahoma accumulated a deficit exceeding 10 inches since mid-August.
"Severe drought" status may mean crops or pastures losses likely, water shortages common, and water restrictions imposed, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

About 80 percent of North Dakota remains at least abnormally dry, and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
What moisture does come will likely lay on top, if it is doesn’t evaporate, he said.
"We’re waiting for what moisture winter brings us," Schlag said.
North Dakota saw a dry first half of summer with decent moisture later on, Schlag said.
Western farmers and ranchers were hit hard in particular, with dry soil and little runoff into livestock ponds.
The U.S. Drought Monitor indicates half the county is still experiencing severe drought, as are Divide and Williams counties.
Meanwhile, the Red River Valley is largely drought-free.
Kramlich and Schlag both said moisture will be vital to mitigate the remaining drought conditions.
But that will take time.
"Come next spring, it will be a bit nice to a bit more normal, and I take that with a grain of a salt because there isn’t such a thing as normal in North Dakota," Schlag said.

According to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to exceptional drought continues to cover around 12.0% of the contiguous United States for a third week.
Extreme drought decreased from 0.9% last week to 0.8%.
South Dakota and Montana are the only two states with an extreme drought, which is shown as a long and short term situation.
The atmospheric circulation during this U.S. Drought Monitor week was dominated by a struggle between subtropical high pressure across the southern contiguous United States and weather systems moving in the jet stream flow across the north.
The weather systems mostly missed the Southwest to southern Plains and western Great Lakes, and much of the Southeast and coastal Northeast, where it was drier than normal and, in some cases, little to no rain fell.
Temperatures were cooler than normal behind the fronts in the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, central to northern Plains, and western Great Lakes.
As a result, drought and abnormal dryness contracted further in some northern states and expanded further in some southern states.
In addition to Drought.gov, you can find further information on the current drought as well as on this week’s Drought Monitor update at the National Drought Mitigation Center.
The most recent U.S. Drought Outlook is available from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.
Edited for WeatherNation by Meteorologist Mace Michaels

Warnings the South East could face a drought have come from a supplier as a second dry winter looms.
Figures from the company showed Bewl Water reservoir in Kent was at 34% and Darwell reservoir in Sussex is at 43%.
Two other Sussex reservoirs are better stocked – Powdermill is at 79% and Weir Wood is at 78%.
Fisherman Andrew Lush said: "These water levels are very rare.
And Rob Barden, another fisherman, said: "I’ve been here 21 years and it’s the third time I’ve seen it like this."
Mr McAulay said: "We have had one dry winter.
We’re currently in a second dry winter, so we are looking at how do we replenish our stocks."
We take less water out of the environment now than we did in 1976 despite the fact that we have far more people living in the region."
More than 75% of the South East’s water came from underground sources and the company was looking at how to recharge supplies, he added.
Average consumption in the UK is 150 litres a day per person, and in the South East 130 litres a day.

New research is shedding light on the potential consequences of geoengineering the planet.
That approach, in a sense, has already been tested in nature.
Big volcanic eruptions have cooled the planet by injecting ash into the atmosphere.
Reducing hurricane activity in the Atlantic might sound like a positive, knock-on benefit.
“That sounds beneficial after the hurricane season we’ve just had,” Anthony Jones of the University of Exeter, one of the paper’s authors, told Seeker.
“But if you just inject into the north, you also increase the risk of drought in the Sahel.” The Sahel is a region in Africa bordering the Sahara Desert and is prone to acute drought.
The United Nations said in 2012 that 15 million people were malnourished in West Africa and the Sahel primarily due to drought.
“Geoengineering regionally and unilaterally could have dire consequences for other parts of the planet,” Jones said.
Despite the risks, scientists who study geoengineering suggest the process may buy crucial time for humanity to transition away from carbon-intensive economies that are the cause of global warming.
“But the consequences of climate change are also quite terrifying.

Widespread heavy precipitation was restricted to the central and northern West Coast from the Cascades and northern Sierra Nevada westward.
Southeast In a swath across central Georgia, and across south-central Virginia and adjacent areas, 1 to locally near 2 inches of precipitation fell; only a few tenths of an inch, if any, was recorded elsewhere.
Notable longer-term (90-day) deficits, however, are limited to the regions of moderate drought.
No measurable precipitation has fallen during the last 30 to 45 days in southwestern Kansas, western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and interior southern Texas while 90-day deficits are generally between 4 and 8 inches from central Mississippi westward to northeastern Texas and northward through eastern Oklahoma, much of Arkansas, and the southern half of Missouri.
Midwest Only a few tenths of an inch of precipitation, if any, was observed region-wide; however, this time of year, development and intensification of dryness occurs gradually, so few changes were made to the depiction.
Cumulative changes over the past few weeks prompted the removal of D1 from northeast Ohio and D0 from northwestern Ohio while some expansion of dryness and moderate drought was brought into southeastern Iowa and adjacent sections of Missouri and Illinois.
Farther south, no measurable precipitation has fallen for at least the last 30 days on the central and western Four Corners States, Nevada, and the southeastern half of California.
Amounts of 0.5 to locally approaching 2.0 inches are expected in the Northeast, the northern and central Appalachians, the eastern Great Lakes, and the central and northern sections of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
During the 6-10 day period (November 21-25), odds favor above-median precipitation only across the Florida Panhandle, the northern Intermountain West, and the northern half of the West Coast States.
Below-median precipitation is anticipated elsewhere except in the southern half of the High Plains, the northern Plains, most of the Great Basin, and the Southwest, where neither abnormal wetness nor dryness is favored.

In June, California voters will decide whether to fund a $4 billion bond measure that covers a wide variety of issues, including urban parks, drought resilience and flood protection.
Senate Bill 5, known as the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018, would provide $4.1 billion for a wide variety of water and outdoor recreation needs.
Pablo Garza, the Environmental Defense Fund’s California political director, said the bill has three big goals it’s working toward at the same time: preventing floods, preventing droughts and adding parks to low-income city neighborhoods.
Out of the total $4 billion in new debt, plus allowing the state to use $100 million in leftover funds from a past bond, $2.83 billion will go toward creating parks in underserved areas, especially urban districts.
Projects that ensure clean drinking water and statewide drought preparation will get $250 million, flood protection projects will receive $550 million, regional drought sustainability projects plus water recycling projects will be allocated $390 million and groundwater sustainability projects will get $80 million, if voters pass the bill.
On the drought protection side, some of the projects eligible for the bond’s funding include preventing groundwater contamination, increasing streamflow and building more treatment plants that can recycle wastewater into potable water for groundwater recharge.
California currently has $73 billion left to pay off from other general obligation bonds, according to the California Treasurer’s Office.
“General obligation bonds have to get paid back, and they have to pay back with interest.
Water quality, drought resilience and flood protection projects are primarily funded through the monthly bills ratepayers send to water agencies for tap water, but those projects are so large and complex that additional funding is necessary, Garza said.
“It puts $550 million toward flood protection, which is top of mind for all of California after the wet year we had,” Garza said.

2016 was a rough year for trees along Delaware Avenue.
The drought-like weather conditions wreaked havoc along the avenue.
By mid to late summer, numerous trees had been scorched, creating a scene right out of a Tim Burton movie.
Today, all of the dead trees are in the process of being removed.
Plus, there were even more dead trees waiting in line for lopping on the East Side, further towards Gates Circle.
I remember heading down Delaware Avenue last summer, thinking to myself how awful the drought had been, and how many of the trees were already dead or dying.
There are a lot of places in Buffalo that needs trees, but Delaware Avenue is one of the most important tree-lined streets in the city.
Newell Nussbaumer is ‘queenseyes’ – Eyes of the Queen City and Founder of Buffalo Rising.
winter festival.
Instigator behind Liberty Hound @ Canalside.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Officials are trying to figure out how a Virginia reservoir got so low that they had to issue a drought warning in October.
The South Fork Rivanna Reservoir is now full, but questions remain about how it quickly declined during late September and early October.
Officials with the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority said no one is sure why the reservoir dropped so quickly.
Executive Director Bill Mawyer told The Daily Progress that leaking stream release gates and the release of more than the required amount of water into the Rivanna River could have contributed to the drop.
The authority issued a drought watch on Oct. 3.
Eight days later, Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville declared a drought warning, and mandatory restriction enforcement began the next day.
___ Information from: The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.com Copyright © 2017 The Associated Press.
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