News
10.02.2010
Strong frosts damaged winter crops in Ukraine
On January 21-31, winter crops were in full winter dormancy.Cold weather with an average air temperature of 6-80 below the norm was reported in all Ukrainian regions from January 21 to 31. During this time on some days the air temperature reached -24-280, even down to -30-340 in parts of Western Ukraine.
However during these sever frosts crops were covered with a snow layer of 10-39 cm in depth. In parts of Crimea, Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Kharkiv regions the snow cover was only 2-9 cm deep. The depth of frozen soil depended on the snow cover and ranged from 2-10 cm in the South to 71-89 cm in some places in Kharkiv region in late January.
The results of plant samples grown in late January show winter wheat, rye, barley and rape, irrespective of their development stages, have a 93-100% survival rate and are viable in areas covered with at least a 15-30 cm thick snow layer. However, it was reported extensive damage and winter kill of the winter crops in fields with limited snow cover.
