A bitter cold first half of the month had little - if any - impact on winter crops due to widespread deep snow cover.
A pronounced warm up during the latter half of the month rapidly melted the region’s snowpack and accelerated winter wheat out of dormancy in southern portions of Ukraine and Russia.
The sharply contrasting temperature regimes resulted in monthly values near normal, though daytime highs in the teens (degrees C) in southern Russia at the end of February were more typical of readings observed in late March and early April.
Precipitation was favourable in southern Russia (100-200 percent of normal), while drier-than-normal conditions (locally less than 75 percent of normal) developed during February in central Ukraine’s winter wheat areas