Agrometeorology: Winter weather favorable for agriculture

By: STA Date: 2026. 01. 22. 09:00

🎧 Hallgasd a cikket: Nyelv: Sebesség: 1.05×

From an agricultural perspective, the weather in January has been favorable so far with persistent snow and severe cold across the country, but the soil remains dry in large areas, especially in the Great Plain, so additional precipitation would be needed there – HungaroMet Zrt. wrote in its agrometeorological analysis on Thursday.

(Photo: Pixabay)

According to the analysis, only minor precipitation has occurred in the country since the middle of last week, the amount of which did not reach 5 millimeters anywhere. The 30-day precipitation total in the southern part of the country exceeds the multi-year average, while there is a deficit in the north, but the precipitation total of the past 90 days shows a surplus in the north, northeast, and southwest. The snow layer is slowly decreasing, but it remains continuous in most parts of the country, and the soil moisture content will increase as the snow melts. The soil in the Great Plain remains dry in the deeper layers, there would be plenty of room for additional precipitation. The temperature temporarily eased in the second half of last week, then the drier air that arrived at the end of the week and the existing snow layer caused serious night frosts to develop again at the beginning of the week, with temperatures around minus 15 degrees Celsius in many places. Currently, a 5-20 centimeter layer of the soil is frozen.

Rapeseed and winter cereals are dormant under the snow

The snow is very favorable, it protects the plants from frost damage, and when it melts, moisture slowly seeps into the soil. In the Great Plain, the deeper soil layers are still dry, at least the upper one meter should be filled by spring so that there is reserve moisture for the plants next summer. The strong and persistent cold is favorable from a plant protection perspective, because it reduces pests and pathogens.

According to the forecast, relief will come in the coming days, there will be a lot of clouds and mixed precipitation, typically rain, is expected several times

By the middle of next week, precipitation exceeding 10 millimeters may fall in large areas. The severe frosts will cease and temperatures can only be expected to be around 0 degrees at night and slightly above freezing during the day, but in the southern parts the peak temperature may even approach 10 degrees on some days.

MTI