Agrometeorology: frosts to end on Saturday

By: STA Date: 2025. 04. 10. 09:00

In the first half of the week, there were hard frosts in many places, which caused significant damage to orchards. The risk of frost east of the Danube still exists on Friday night, but after that the weather will warm up significantly – HungaroMet Zrt. wrote in its agrometeorological analysis on Thursday.

(Photo: Pixabay)

The weather has been mostly dry in recent days, several degrees colder than usual at this time of year, with temperatures 3-5 degrees Celsius lower than usual at this time of year since Sunday. Last Saturday, the air warmed up to over 20 degrees throughout the country, and night frosts have not occurred since March 22. As a result of the strong cooling that began on Saturday, frosts of between minus 1 and minus 3 degrees Celsius were only recorded in the northern and eastern parts of the country on Sunday morning, but by Monday morning it had already frozen almost all over the country, and by Tuesday morning the air had cooled to between minus 4 and minus 6 degrees Celsius in many places, except for the western two-thirds of Transdanubia. After a March with abundant precipitation, only minor rains, showers and snow showers occurred in the first decade of April. The soils that were replenished in March have retained their moisture content under the top few centimeters of dry layer. However, the top dry layer is easily picked up by strong, stormy winds in many directions and carried away, causing local dust storms.

The spring development of autumn sowings is progressing well due to favorable moisture and temperature

Rapeseed is already green in many places, wheat is in the development phase of stalk initiation, and the fields that have overwintered less well are also getting stronger nicely – they wrote, adding that the night frosts will not cause serious damage to these plants. Temperature conditions will be favorable for the sowing and early development of corn and sunflower from the weekend, but the soil layer near the surface is increasingly dry. Apricots and almonds have bloomed almost nationwide, while peaches, cherries, sour cherries and plums are just starting to bloom or are already blooming, and the frosts at the beginning of the week caused serious damage to these crops even with protection. According to the forecast, no significant precipitation is expected in the coming days, and further drying of the soil layer near the surface can be expected. The risk of frost will end nationwide from Saturday, from Sunday maximums will be above 20 degrees in large areas, and from the beginning of next week the air will not cool below 10 degrees at night in many places.

MTI