Weather varied depending on territory in the first ten-day period of December. It was very cold with temperature lower than the norm by 4-6°С on the left bank of Dnipro river. The temperature was slightly lower than the norm on the right bank. The temperature declined to -10-13°С in some nights that was typical for December.
The lack of precipitation remained. The amount of precipitation was significantly lower than the norm.Tthey were absent in eastern and southern (except Odessa) oblasts.
Small snow cover was observed locally in northern part of the left bank of Dnipro river and somewhere in central oblasts. In the last day of the reporting period, rain and wet snow resulted in formation and extension of ice slick to the first level of danger in western, central, northern and southern oblasts.
The average air temperature was lower than the norm by 1.2-3°С across most of the country. The maximal temperature reached +1-6°С in the warmest days. It reached +7-11°С in most of western, Vinnytsia and Kherson oblasts, and +12-16°С in Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpatska and Odessa oblasts.
The minimal air temperature declined mainly to -9-13°С. It decreased to -6-8°С in Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Kherson and Volyn oblasts.
The temperature of soil surface or snow declined to 10-16°С at night. It reached +1-17°С in the warmest days.
Slight precipitations in form of drizzling rain, rain, wet snow and snow were observed during 1-3 days across almost the entire territory of the country. The average amount of precipitation totaled 5-25% of the norm (1-5 mm).
The relative humidity of the air varied within the range of 67% to 94%.
As of December 10, snow cover of 1-5 cm was observed in Sumy, Chernihiv, some regions of Kyiv, Poltava, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Kharkov, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Volyn oblasts. There was no snow cover across the rest of the country.
Across most of the country, soil freezing totaled 11-20 cm. It reached 21-40 cm in eastern, partially central and northern oblasts. It was 1-10 cm across most of western, Vinnytsia and southern oblasts. Thawed soil was observed across southern regions of Odessa and Kherson oblasts.
For 1-4 days, the wind speed increased to 15-19 m/sec across western, many regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, locally in Odessa, Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad oblasts.
In the first ten-day period of December, winter crops were in winter dormancy across most of the territory of Ukraine. In southern regions, crops were in slight winter dormancy. At the beginning of the reporting period, vegetation of winter crops in tillering phase stopped in Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts due to decline of the average daily temperature.
Weather conditions were not dangerous for wintering of crops in Ukraine. However, short-lasting decline of minimal temperature at the tillering zone depth to -9-10°С could negatively affect the wintering of underdeveloped barley and rapeseed in Sumy, Kharkov and Luhansk oblasts.
The minimal soil temperature at the tillering zone depth varied from +1°С to -5°С across the rest of the territory. It declined to -6-8°С in eastern, northeastern regions as well as in Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Zaporizhia oblasts.
According to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center www.meteo.gov.ua