December warming has triggered the resumption of vegetation of winter crops across much of Ukraine, in some areas even causing plants to shift their stages of development, ProAgro Group reports.
According to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center, exceptionally warm weather was observed during the second ten-day period of December, with average daily temperatures exceeding the norm by 4–8°C. On the warmest days, air temperatures reached +11–15°C, which is more typical of November than early winter. Such conditions kept winter crops in a state of shallow dormancy, while slow plant growth was recorded in certain regions, including southern Ukraine as well as Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Volyn regions.
Despite the lack of stable snow cover as of December 20, there is currently no threat of winterkill. The minimum soil temperature at the depth of the tillering node ranged from +1°C to -2°C, dropping to -4°C only in Sumy region. These values are well above critical thresholds, allowing crop conditions to be assessed as safe.
Soil moisture conditions remain mixed. While fogs contributed to moistening the topsoil, precipitation levels in most regions were extremely low, amounting to only 9–42% of the norm. The lowest amounts of rain and wet snow were recorded in western regions of the country.
As reported earlier, winter crops slowed vegetation at the end of November, and farmers focused on protecting fields from pests and diseases.
Source: AgroTimes
