European part
In the first ten-day period of April 2019, in the Central, Northwestern and Volga Federal Districts the weather conditions became somewhat warmer compared with the standard level. On some days (mainly in the middle and at the end of the ten-day period), the maximum air temperature rose to +12...15°C, while in the southern half of the Central District and in the extreme south-east of the Volga Districts — to +18...20°C. At night, there were observed frosts (to -4...-2°C), while in northern raions of the territory the minimum temperature dropped to -11...-7°C. In most raions, the average air temperature totaled +2...4°C, while in south-western raions of the Central District and in the extreme south-east of the Volga District the figures reached +5...6°C, up 2-4°C compared with the standard level in the majority of raions.
The country mainly faced precipitations in the form of rains (in the Northwestern District they also were in the form of snow), and the depth was quite small (for 10 days, less than 10 mm), only in some fields of the Northwestern District, in Voronezh, Tambov, Saratov, Samara and Orenburg oblasts the depth grew to 15-20 mm. To the north of the line passing through St. Petersburg, Vologda, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza and Samara, in many fields there was still observed a snow covering. In many raions adjacent to the reporting line, the depth of snow cover was already small — 2-5 cm, and in the more northern raions it varied within 20-40 cm, and in some raions — even nearly 50 cm and more. Therefore, in some fields with the large snow cover (more than 40 cm) there were conditions for damaging of winter grains, due to rotting processes.
In the Central Black Earth oblasts, the vegetation processes of winter crops resumed in the third ten-day period of March only, and in the beginning of April winter crops continued growing in terms of good moisture provision. In many fields, the crops started tillering. In most raions, the condition of winter grain crops was good. In the reporting oblasts, the topsoil layer (at the depth of 10 cm) warmed up to +7...10°C, which allowed to agrarians to plant not only early spring grains and forage crops, but also sugar beet and sunflower seed. On several recent days of the reporting period, in some raions of Bryansk and Tula oblasts the soil already reached its high-plastic condition, and agrarians started planting early cold-season crops.
In the Southern and North Caucasian Federal Districts, the beginning of the reporting period was rather cool, with some air and soil surface frosts (to -3...-1°C, while in the Crimea — to -5...-4°C). But on the following days, the weather conditions became warmer. In the second half of the reporting period, the average daily air temperature rose to +19...23°C, and sometimes — to +24...25°C. So, in the first ten-day period of April 2019 the average temperature mainly totaled +7...9°C, which was close to the standard.
The precipitation depth was rather small, and in the Crimea and most raions of Krasnodar Krai the precipitations were almost absent. Only in the Republic of Kalmykia, Astrakhan oblast, some northern raions of Stavropol Krai and the north-west of Volgograd oblast, the figures totaled 17-25 mm and more.
The region continued the planting campaign of early spring grains, sugar beet and sunflower seed. Winter crops continued vegetating in terms of good moisture provision, while in some fields in the east of Stavropol Krai, the southeast of Rostov oblast, and in the Crimea the moisture provision level was rather satisfactory. In most raions, the crops already reached the stage of stem growing, while the condition of plants was good, and in some fields — satisfactory.
In the remaining part of the month, in the Southern, North Caucasian Districts and in the south of the Central District, the agro-meteorological conditions for the growth and development of winter crops, as well as for realization of the planting works, will be mainly good and satisfactory. In other raions of the Central District, the southwest of the Volga and Northwestern Districts, the weather conditions for beginning of winter crops vegetation and beginning of the spring planting campaign will be mostly satisfactory. In the extreme north-eastern raions of the European part of Russia, the agro-meteorological conditions for ending of the overwintering period will also be satisfactory.
Asian part
For the first ten days of April 2019, in most agricultural raions of the Ural Federal District and Western Siberia there were somewhat warmer weather conditions than usual. On most days, the average daily temperature increased by 4-6°C compared with the standard. In south-eastern raions of the Ural District, the southern half of Omsk oblast, south-western raions of Novosibirsk oblast, the extreme western and some central raions of Altai Krai, the minimum air temperature dropped to -5...-3°C, and in the remaining raions of the territory it mainly varied within -10...-8°C. In the first half of the ten-day period, the maximum air temperature increased to +6...9°C, and in the second half — to +12...14°C, while in south-western raions of Altai Krai — to +16...22°C.
The warm weather conditions contributed to the active snow melting processes in the fields. At the end of the ten-day period, in most raions of Chelyabinsk and Kurgan oblasts, in the south of Sverdlovsk and Tyumen oblasts, in most raions of Omsk and Novosibirsk oblasts, snow covering in the fields was almost absent, and the soil started thawing. In most raions of Altai Krai, the snow already melted in the fields at the end of March, the soil continued thawing and warming. In the second half of the reporting period, in some south-western raions of the Krai in daytime hours winter grains demonstrated poor vegetation processes. In the other raions of the territory, which did not have snow covering in the fields, the vegetation processes of winter crops did not resume. The weather conditions for beginning of the overwintering period were mainly satisfactory.
In northern raions of the Ural District, some northern and eastern raions of Novosibirsk oblast, northern raions of Omsk oblast, most raions of Tomsk and Kemerovo oblasts, winter crops were under the snow cover, which depth varied within 10-35 cm, as well as in the northeast of Tomsk oblast — 40-50 cm. In the reporting raions, the weather conditions for ending of the overwintering period of grain crops were rather satisfactory. In some raions of Tomsk oblast, there were observed dangerous weather conditions for damaging of winter crops, due to rotting processes.
In the agricultural raions of Eastern Siberia and in the south of the Far Eastern District, the weather conditions were somewhat warmer compared with the standard. The average daily air temperature increased by 2-4°C compared with the standard, while on some days in the beginning of the ten-day period in Krasnoyarsk and Zabaykalsky Krais, and Irkutsk oblast — up 6-7°C. At the same time, the maximum temperature increased to +9...16°C, while in the Republic of Khakassia and Tuva — to +18...20°C. In some southern raions of the territory, where snow in the fields was already absent at the end of March, there were thawing processes and heating of the soil. In the remaining raions, the warm weather conditions contributed to the active melting of snow. In the south of Amur oblast and the south of Primorsky Krai, agrarians continued planting early spring grains and forage crops in terms of good and satisfactory weather conditions. In the reporting raions, the precipitation depth was rather low (less than 10 mm), only in some fields of Primorsky Krai the figures reached 11-13 mm.
In the remaining part of the month, in most agricultural raions of the Ural District and Western Siberia there will be mainly satisfactory agro-meteorological conditions for ending of the overwintering period of winter grains, as well as in some southern raions — for renewal of their vegetation processes. In southern raions of the Far East, the agro-meteorological conditions for planting and sprouting of early spring grains will be satisfactory.
According to the Hydrometeorological Centre of Russia www.meteoinfo.ru
