Hot weather prevailed in Ukraine in the second and third ten-day periods of June; only on some days there was a decrease in air temperature in the western part of the country due to the movement of the cold atmospheric front from west to east. The average daily air temperatures on most days were several degrees higher than the July and August norm.
The average regional ten-day air temperature turned out to be 2.4-4.4 °C above the norm and amounted to 19.7-24.6 °C. The maximum air temperature on hot days increased to 30-36 °C. In the south of the Odesa region, in some areas of the Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions during 1 day the maximum air temperature reached or exceeded 35 °C.
The average regional amount of precipitation in most western (with the exception of Chernivtsi) and Zhytomyr regions was from 122 to 231% of the norm (from 104 to 263 mm). In the eastern, Zaporizhzhya, Chernigiv, Kyiv, Cherkassy, Kirovograd and Vinnytsya regions, the June rainfall ranged from 43 to 80% of the monthly norm (from 24 to 72 mm). In the Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Odesa and Chernivtsi regions the amount of precipitation was close to normal and ranged from 48 to 117 mm.
At the end of June, the reserves of productive moisture under all crops that depended on rainfall were extremely variegated and rated from optimal and excess to scarce and drought. Due to the high temperature background, accelerated ripening of the early grain took place, and the harvest began in the southern regions. In the western regions, where an excessive amount of rain fell in June, the maturation of the grain of early spike crops took place under unfavorable conditions associated with excessive moisture in the meter layer of soil (120-230 mm of productive moisture) for this phase of development. Excessive soil moisture led to the local state of plants, contributed to the intensive growth of weeds, activation, development and spread of fungal diseases. In areas with excessive rainfall conditions were created for the “runoff” of grain, reducing its weight due to the leaching of plastic substances.
At the end of the third ten-day period of June, in most areas of the western, Zhytomyr, and some areas of the Vinnytsya regions under winter crops, waterlogging of a meter layer of soil (more than 120 mm of productive moisture) was noted. In the Luhansk, Donetsk, in most areas of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, in some areas of the Zaporizhzhya, Kirovograd and Kyiv regions, the reserves of productive moisture were assessed as insufficient and unsatisfactory for the period of formation and filling of grain and were less than 60 mm. In the remaining areas, the reserves of productive moisture were 61-80 mm (optimal) and 81-120 mm (excess).
The grain of winter crops has reached milk, waxy or full ripeness. Mass harvesting of winter wheat and barley grain began in many areas of the southern regions.
In winter rapeseed, pod formation ended and seed ripening continued, in some areas of the southern regions rapeseed grain was harvested. The condition of winter rapeseed is good and satisfactory.