BERLIN (AP) — Scientists say climate change is affecting the timing of river floods across Europe, with the biggest shifts seen along the Atlantic coast.

Researchers looked at data across a 50-year period, finding that half the measurement stations in western Europe — from England to Portugal — showed floods happening more than two weeks earlier by 2010.

In a paper published Thursday by the journal Science, the researchers found that earlier snow melts are also bringing floods in northeastern Europe forward by over a week.

Floods around the North Sea area are happening more than a week later than in 1960.

The authors concluded that future climate change may force farmers, hydropower plants, water companies and residents in affected areas to adjust to shifts in flood patterns.