The landscapes in the slideshow above look like they were taken in a Southwestern desert. It's tough to believe that they're actually images of Europe as the continent struggles with heat wave after heat wave this summer.

U.K. riverbeds are dry and cracking and crops are suffering throughout France and Italy due to unrelenting heat and drought. France was dealing with its fourth heat wave of the summer this week and the U.K. issued an amber heat warning through the end of the week as temperatures are expected to reach above 98 degrees Fahrenheit in some locations.

The U.K. met office also issued its highest fire warning for the weekend, as the hot, dry temperatures pose an "exceptional" risk of wildfire spread. Several areas of Europe have seen forests and even homes incinerated by wildfires throughout the season, including the U.K. just last month.

France is experiencing its worst drought since records began in 1958, Meteo France reported. Rainfall is down by about 85% in the country, according to BBC, and two-thirds of France have been placed under a state of crisis declaration by the government.

France's Loire Valley is known as "the Garden of France," but even there, crops are turning brown as the heat wave and drought take their toll. Farmers in France and elsewhere in Europe are seeing a decrease in production, especially in soy, sunflowers and corn. The EU's corn production is expected to be 12.5 million tons lower than 2021's crop, while the sunflower production is projected at 1.6 million tons lower, according to a report issued by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Italy's drying Po River has caused salinity levels to increase in the river water that remains, killing off fish, mollusks and nearby rice fields.

"It is evident that there is an entire system with an ecology that will have permanent problems,” Giancarlo Mantovani, director of Po River Basin Authority, told The Associated Press. This is true not only for the Po, but for swaths of Europe affected by climate change-fueled drought.

Falling water levels across Europe are damaging the farming economy and forcing water restrictions, and the dry spell isn't close to over. Almost half of Europe is suffering a historic drought. Western, Central and Southern Europe have not seen a significant rainfall for nearly two months. NPR reported that the drought is expected to continue and become the worst drought in 500 years.

Over the next three months "we see still a very high risk of dry conditions over Western and Central Europe, as well as the U.K.," said Andrea Toreti, senior researcher at the European Drought Observatory.

Click through the slideshow above to see images of the devastating drought across Europe.

MORE: Photos of Europe's Deadly July Heat Wave

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