In the first ten days of October an intensive cooling took place in Ukraine, which led to severe frosts not only on the soil surface, but also in the air. However, in the second half of the ten-day period an increase in temperature began and significant rains occurred throughout Ukraine.
The average regional air temperature over a decade was close to normal, in the Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv it was 1.1-2.1 °C higher, and in the Rivne, Volyn and Transcarpathian regions 1.1-1.5°C lower than the norm and amounted to 8.8-12.9 °C from north to south. At the beginning of the ten-day period frosts were noted on the soil surface 2 cm high and in the air. The maximum air temperature in the regions of the northern half of the country (except for Lviv, Ternopil and Cherkasy regions) increased to 23 – 25 °С, in the rest of the territory – to 26-28 °С. Precipitation of varying amounts and intensities was observed for 1-6 days throughout the country. The average regional amount in the Rivne, Zhytomyr, Ternopil and Khmelnitsky regions amounted to 58-73% of the ten-day norm (7-11 mm) and in the Chernihiv, Kyiv, Cherkasy and Vinnytsya regions the rainfall was close to the norm – 11-13 mm; in the Chernivtsi, Transcarpathian, Lviv, Volyn and Sumy regions fell from 122 to 190% of the ten-day rainfall.
Sowing of winter crops throughout the country ended in the first ten-day period of October. On significant areas sowing was completed in poorly moistened soil with insufficient moisture reserves for seed germination and emergence. Frosts on the surface of the soil and in the air and low average daily air temperatures did not cause harm to winter crops where seedlings had already appeared, but they slowed down the growth and development of plants.