Additional heavy rain in the west contrasted with dry weather in
eastern wheat areas.A slow-moving storm system produced moderate to heavy rainfall (10-90mm) over the western half of the region, alleviating short-term drought over central and western Ukraine but saturating or flooding low-lying fields.
Showers from this system (10-40mm) also spread into southern Russia, maintaining good to excellent conditions for winter wheat establishment.
Meanwhile, sunny skies promoted winter wheat development across west-central Russia.
The season’s first freeze (-7 to -1°C) was reported from Belarus and northern Ukraine into central Russia, while readings remained above freezing in primary winter wheat areas located across the south.
(This week we received reliable reports from southern Ukraine of 300m over the previous two weeks so 10-90mm might be conservative.)