Warm, even sometimes hot and dry weather prevailed in Ukraine in the second and third ten-day periods of August. Precipitation was noted only in the western regions.
The average regional ten-day-long air temperature in the eastern, northeastern, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kirovograd, Cherkasy and Kyiv regions was 2.2-4.5 °C, in the rest of the country 4.6-6.0 °C above the norm and ranged from 19.7 °C in the north to 25.3 °C in the south of the country. The maximum air temperature reached 32-34 °С, and 35-37 °C in the southern, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Transcarpathian regions.
In the middle and at the end of August in most regions there was no significant precipitation or the amount did not exceed 1-8 mm. In the Transcarpathian, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Khmelnitsky and Zhytomyr regions the amount of rainfall per ten-day period was from 47 to 84% of the norm (14-22 mm), in the Rivne and Volyn regions – 125 167% of the norm (35-45 mm).
In the western and northern regions, due to precipitation, the moisture reserves in the tilth-top layer of the soil were good and optimal for preparing the soil for sowing winter crops and sowing winter rape. In the central, southern and south-eastern regions, where in the upper layers of the soil the moisture reserves were insufficient or almost exhausted, unfavorable conditions developed for preparing the soil for sowing winter crops.
Sowing of winter rape began in certain areas of the southern, western and northern regions. In corn, depending on the timing of sowing and early ripening, the grain was in the phase of milky, waxy or full ripeness. In some places, corn was collected for silage. The condition of the plants is mostly good.
In most areas sunflower seed ripening was observed, in many areas of the southern, separate areas of the central and eastern regions it reached harvest ripeness and harvesting began. The condition of the plants is mostly satisfactory.