Western FSUScattered showers and thundershowers (10-30 mm, locally more) spread across Belarus and western Russia, maintaining adequate to abundant moisture supplies for corn, soybeans, and sunflowers.
The showers were generally passing in nature, allowing winter wheat harvesting to progress during drier periods.
Elsewhere in the region, showers and thundershowers (10-30 mm, locally more) overspread Ukraine as well.
The rain was welcome in west-central sections of the country, providing a needed boost in soil moisture for corn and soybeans in the wake of recent short-term dryness.
After a generally seasonable start, temperatures in Belarus, Ukraine, and western Russia slowly crept up during the week.
Temperatures averaged 3 to 5°C above normal for the week, with maximum temperatures often exceeding 35°C in southeastern Ukraine and the Southern District in Russia during the latter half.
Summer crops are generally in the late reproductive to filling stages of development.
As a result, the heat likely increased stress on summer crops, however, large reductions in yield potential are unlikely because crops are beyond the most critical stages of development.
Eastern FSU
Widely scattered showers in northern Kazakhstan and central Russia continued to favour late reproductive to filling spring wheat.
Rainfall amounts were highly variable, with some locations receiving nearly 25 mm of rain and many locations tallying no rainfall.
Despite this variability, soil moisture was adequate to abundant throughout the region and crop prospects remained good to excellent.
Temperatures averaged up to 2°C above normal in western spring wheat producing areas (i.e., Urals District of Russia) and up to 2°C below normal in southern and eastern producing areas (i.e., northern Kazakhstan, Siberia District in Russia).
Farther south, seasonably hot, mostly dry weather favored open-boll cotton in Uzbekistan.