February Frosts in Ukraine: Impact on Winter Crop Plantings

At the beginning of February, Ukraine experienced the lowest temperatures of the current season, coinciding with an uneven distribution of snow cover across regions. The critical temperature thresholds for winter crops remain as follows: for winter wheat –16…–17 °C at the tillering node, winter barley –14…–15 °C, and winter rapeseed –12…–15 °C at the root neck area.

This is reported by AgroReview

Impact of Snow Cover on Winter Crop Frost Resistance

Snow cover plays a decisive role in protecting winter crops during severe frosts. A snow layer of 10–15 cm significantly raises the soil temperature by 10–15 °C compared to the air temperature. As a result, even at street temperatures of –22…–25 °C, plants covered with sufficient snow remain protected, and the risk of winterkill is significantly reduced.

Regional Features of Risks for Winter Crops

In the northern, western, and parts of the central regions, favorable conditions for the overwintering of winter crops have developed: air temperatures reached –22…–25 °C, but the snow layer exceeded 15–20 cm. Under such conditions, the temperature at the tillering node remained above the critical level, so the risks for winter wheat, barley, and rapeseed are assessed as minimal.

At the same time, in the southern and parts of the central regions, particularly in Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, as well as in certain areas of Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions, the situation was more complicated. Here, minimum temperatures of –14…–16 °C coincided with insufficient or absent snow cover (0–5 cm). Such weather conditions created a potentially dangerous load on winter barley and rapeseed. Fields with overgrown rapeseed, elevated root necks, and late-sown winter crops that had not fully hardened were particularly vulnerable.

At the beginning of February, winter crops in Ukraine faced a wave of the lowest temperatures of this winter, coinciding with significant contrasts in snow cover between regions. Under normal plant development conditions, the critical frost resistance thresholds for winter wheat are around –16…–17 °C at the tillering node, for winter barley –14…–15 °C, and for winter rapeseed –12…–15 °C at the root neck area.