Before-and-after photos show how this once-thriving lake has all but dried up

Lake Montbel is a shimmering, turquoise lake, stretching across 1,400 acres of southwest France, in the foothills of the Pyrenees — a haven for wildlife, a vital source of irrigation for farmers and water for local rivers, and a tourist paradise. But after the driest winter in more than six decades, it is a shadow of its former self.