Unusually warm weather was observed in Ukraine in the first ten-day period of October.
The average regional air temperature for the ten-day period was 13.9-18.3 °C.
The maximum air temperature rose to 22 – 25 °С, in the Transcarpathian, Vinnytsya, Kharkiv, Odesa, Mykolayiv and Kherson regions – up to 26-28 °С.
Precipitation of varying amounts and intensity was observed for 1-7 days almost throughout the country. Their average regional number in the Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv regions did not exceed 8-36% (1-4 mm), in the Luhansk region there was no precipitation at all. In the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Volyn regions, 50 to 67% of the ten-day norm fell out, in the Chernihiv – within the normal range (4-14 mm). In the Rivne, Lviv, Transcarpathian, Cherkasy, Kirovograd, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson and Odesa regions (except for the southern areas), the amount of precipitation over a ten-day period ranged from 127 to 200% of the norm (from 9 to 37 mm). In the rest of the country, the ten-day rainfall ranged from 263 to 756% of the ten-day norm (21-68 mm).
The largest amount of precipitation over a ten-day period was noted in some areas of Chernivtsi, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Kirovograd and Kherson regions – 67-93 mm.
Taking into account the weather conditions that were observed in the first ten days of October, in most areas under winter crops, ground drought stopped, the moisture reserves in the soil were replenished to an optimal and satisfactory amount. However, in areas where there was little rain, the drought continued – these are Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, southern regions of the Odesa region.
As of October 10, according to expert assessment and actually determined reserves of productive moisture, on 60-65% of the area the soil under winter crops was well and satisfactorily moistened. In some places in the western and northern regions, waterlogging of the tilth-top soil layer was noted.
Mass sowing of winter crops in the east of the country, in areas with zero moisture reserves, is unreasonable, given that a significant drop in temperature is expected in the middle of the next ten-day period.