In the first ten days of September the meteorological summer continued throughout the country. The level of the average ten-day air temperature in the eastern half of the country (4-6 °C above the norm) was one of the highest in the last 30 years of observations. On warm days, the average daily air temperature exceeded the norm by 7-10 °C. A deficit of precipitation continued throughout the country, only in the middle of the ten-day period the passage of a cold atmospheric front caused a decrease in temperature and small irregular rains. In the eastern and many areas of the central and southern regions, there was no precipitation at all.
The average regional air temperature over a ten-day period was in the western regions (with the exception of Chernivtsi) close to or by 1.0-2.4 °C above the norm, in the rest of the country – by 3.4-5.5 °C and ranged from 16,0 °C in the northwest to 23.3 °C in the south of the country. The maximum air temperature in the Volyn, Rivne, Ternopil, Lviv, Transcarpathian and Ivano-Frankivsk regions increased to 25-29 °C. In the rest of the country, the maximum air temperature rose to 32-38 °C. The number of days with air temperatures above 30 °C was 2-7.
Within 1-5 days, with the exception of the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, there were mainly slight precipitations. In the Rivne, Poltava, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya and Donetsk regions, their number per ten-day period ranged from 1 to 5 mm, and in the Luhansk, Kharkiv, many areas of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, certain areas of Zhytomyr and Poltava regions, there was no precipitation at all.
During the first ten-day period of September, the content of mainly dry and hot (with very high daytime air and soil temperatures for early September) air-ground drought intensified and spread, the development of which began in many areas in the second half of July and intensified in August – September . The duration of soil drought in some areas reached 6 – 11 ten-day periods. The period of September 11-25 in Ukraine has the optimal agro-climatic terms for sowing winter crops in most regions. Soil moistening for sowing winter crops in these periods of this year was one of the worst over the past decade.
As of September 10, according to expert assessment and actually determined moisture reserves, the area with absolutely dry and almost dry tilth-top soil increased to 60-70%, its compaction took place, which made it difficult to cultivate the soil for plowing and sowing. At the same time, the 0-10 cm soil layer was almost dry on 70-80% of the area.
There were unsatisfactory conditions for the growth and development of winter rape, which was sown earlier. In some places on the August seeds of this crop, where shoots have already appeared, wilting of plants, unusual for autumn, was noted. Crops of winter rapeseed generally have uneven shoots.