The Never-Ending Summer: Is Germany's Heat Wave a Preview of the Future? - SPIEGEL ONLINE -...

It's early August in Germany, and the country is worried, cantankerous and uncharacteristically sluggish. The country's recent dramatic heatwave has seen the water authority in Chemnitz impose a ban on pumping water out of ponds or other urban waters, with the Chemnitz River only 25 centimeters deep in some places. Those caught taking water can be slapped with fines of up to 50,000 euros. In Gotteszell in Bavaria, a regional railway line had to be shut down because the tracks warped in the heat.