Warming at the beginning of February

At the end of January, negative temperatures in the range of -13 to -15°C were recorded in some places in Northern Bulgaria and the high fields: Sofia, Dragoman, Kneja, Nikolaevo, Shumen, Dve Mogili and Isperih. These values are above the critical thresholds for the overwintering winter cereal crops in the tillering stage, but under conditions of absent or uneven and patchy snow cover and longer persistence, these temperatures are dangerous for the stands that ceased vegetation at the third-leaf stage, especially for barley.

After the frosty weather in the middle of the third ten-day period of January, at the beginning of February the agrometeorological conditions will undergo a change. At the end of the month, an increase in temperatures is expected, but in most of the field areas their average daily values will remain within limits that will keep the autumn-sown crops in dormancy. Exceptions will occur in the northwestern part of the Danube Plain and in the extreme southwestern regions, where they will be close to the biological minimum required for the resumption of vegetative processes in winter cereal crops.

No precipitation is expected during the period and the conditions will be suitable for carrying out pruning and winter plant protection spraying in orchards against the overwintering forms of a number of pathogens: blossom blight (early brown rot), shot-hole disease, peach leaf curl, etc.

Source: NIMH-BAS