Late Summer Weather Favors Ripening and Harvesting

We should expect dry and summery weather until the middle of next week, that will help ripening and harvesting, reads the Hungarian meteorological service HungaroMet’s agrometeorological most recent analysis.

20-50 millimeters of rain typically fell over the past ten days, but only 5-15 millimeters in the southern part of the country, while 60-70 millimeters occurred in smaller patches. In the second half of last week, more rain fell in many parts of the Tiszántúl (eastern region) and central regions than in the previous thirty days combined, thus in the northern part of the country, the 30-day precipitation total is around average, significantly exceeding it in many places. Meanwhile, in the southern half of the country, there is still a deficit of 10-50 millimeters in many places. Over the past 90 days, the central and southern parts of the country have received 80-120 millimeters less precipitation than usual for this time of year.

The peak temperature last Friday and Saturday was typically between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius, then dropped to around 20 degrees on Sunday, but began to warm up again on Monday. Behind Tuesday’s cold front, the cool air mass brought temperatures down to 21-23 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning, the air had cooled to below 10 degrees Celsius in large areas, and below 5 degrees Celsius in some places.

Summer crops were severely affected by the summer drought. Although some parts of the country received heavy rainfall at certain times, the green mass of most crops was much less than usual for the season, and the plants began to dry out quickly. Sunflower harvesting continues, as does corn harvesting in areas more severely affected by drought. The rainfall of the past two weeks is no longer useful, as it hinders harvesting and impairs the quality of sunflowers.

On unirrigated fields, there are very large regional differences in Hungary, depending on rainfall distribution.

In the central part of the country, the harvest is very poor over a large area, but there are regions, mainly in the Little Hungarian Plain and in the northeast, where the outlook is still acceptable.

The rain was very welcome for the germination and emergence of freshly sown rapeseed, as well as for soil preparation on land that has not yet been sown.

According to the forecast, the next few days will be summery and mostly dry, hence the topsoil will dry out considerably. The weather may turn rainy again in the second half of next week. Temperatures will rise: from Saturday, they will be close to 30 degrees, and from Sunday, maximum temperatures slightly above that are expected in some places.

Via met.hu, Featured image: MTI/Katona Tibor

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