Cold weather with frosts prevailed throughout Ukraine in the second ten-day period of April.
The average regional ten-day air temperature over almost the entire territory of the country was close to normal, in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Khmelnitsky, Chernivtsi and Odesa it was 1.1-2.0 °C higher, and in Luhansk it was 1.1 °C below normal and ranged from 6.4 ° in the north to 11.0 °C in the south of the country. The maximum air temperature in the warmest days increased to 18-23 °C, in the Volyn, Khmelnitsky, Kyiv and Odesa regions – to plus 24-25 °C. The minimum air temperature on the coldest nights decreased to minus 4-6 °C, in the Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Poltava, Kirovograd, Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kherson and Donetsk regions – to minus 1-3 °C.
Within 1-10 days, frosts were noted in the air, on the soil surface and at a height of 2 cm.
Precipitation was observed for 1-3 days almost throughout the country. In the Odesa, Khmelnitsky, Zhytomyr, Rivne and Volyn regions, their average regional number per ten-day period was only 1-4 mm. In the rest of the territory – from 6 to 11 mm. The daily maximum precipitation in some areas of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions reached 17-19 mm.
As of April 20, the reserves of productive moisture under winter crops in the tilth-top soil in most areas were insufficient for this period – from 11 to 20 mm of productive moisture was contained. In most areas of the Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Mykolayiv, some areas of the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions wet reserves were unsatisfactory and amounted to only 1-10 mm, in some places in the Odesa region the soil was completely dry. Sufficient moistening of 0-20 cm of the soil layer was observed in most areas of the western, Sumy, Vinnitsa, Cherkasy, Luhansk, some areas of Kirovograd, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.
For a ten-day period, tillering and the formation of the lower node of a straw (the beginning of stem growth) in winter crops continued. The height of the plants ranged from 17 to 35 cm, from 550 to 950 stems were formed per 1 m², there were 1100-1600 stems in the best crops. The condition of the plants is good and satisfactory, in some places excellent.
On the crops of winter rape the appearance of inflorescences and flowering was noted, in places in the central regions – the formation of the first pods. The height of the rape ranged from 13 to 75 cm, depending on the phase of development of the plant. The condition of the crops is mostly good and satisfactory, but many crops are affected by frost.
During the ten-day period spring barley still continued sowing in some places, germination of grain, the formation of seedlings and 3 leaves were observed, and in some areas of the southern regions the formation of nodal roots and tillering was noted. The height of the plants at the ‘3rd leaf’ phase was from 8 to 16 cm, the density of crops was 300-500 plants per 1 m2. In many areas of the southern and central regions damage and yellowing of leaves and thinning of crops were noted. In oats and wheat, germination of grain, seedlings were noted, in places in the northern regions – the formation of 3 leaves. The condition of emerged plants is predominantly good.