ADMS

The Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute, in accordance with an Act of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development has developed the climatic water balance for all 2478 Polish local districts and, on the basis of soil categories, calculated the current risk of agricultural drought for the following crops: winter and spring cereals, grain maize and maize for silage, potatoes, sugar beet, hops, tobacco, ground vegetables, fruit shrubs and trees, strawberries and legumes.

In the seventh reporting period, i.e. from May 21st to July 20th 2017, IUNG-PIB stated agricultural drought conditions in Poland. The Climatic Water Balance values, which are the basis for assessing the risk of agricultural drought, are negative for the majority of areas.

In the current sixty-day reporting period drought occurs in:

• spring cereals

cultivated on the soils of Category I of drought susceptibility.

Category I consists of very light soils, granulometric groups as follows:

Loose sand,

Loose dusty sand,

Slightly loamy sand

Slightly loamy dusty sand

Drought still occurs in spring cereals in 4 local districts in Poland (438 less in comparison to the previous reporting period). Drought occurs in 0.16% of all local districts in Poland (17.68% less than in the previous reporting period), in świętokrzyskie voivodship. Table 1 presents detailed data on drought occurrence for local districts and the area of arable land in świętokrzyskie voivodship.

Table 1.

The average value of Climatic Water Balance in Poland in the current sixty-day reporting period was -89.6 mm, which was 23 mm more than in the previous one. Weather conditions during this reporting period caused considerable changes in the CWB values. In some regions the CWB values increased even by 131 mm and in others slightly decreased (by 27 mm). In the whole country they were higher than -190 mm and exceeded the critical values only for spring cereals, causing agricultural drought conditions in relatively small areas (i.e. 0.02% of arable land in świętokrzyskie voivodship).

The lowest CWB values, from -160 to -189 mm were recorded in the Małopolska Upland.

June was characterised by highly diversified temperatures. The lowest temperatures were recorded in the vast majority of northern Poland, from below 14 to 16°C. However, they remained within the multiannual norm. In the southern and western parts of the country were recorded the highest temperatures, ranging from 18 to more than 19°C and exceeding the multiannual norm by 2-2.5°C. In the vast majority of the country the temperatures in June exceeded the multiannual norm by 1-2°C.

The first two decades of July were cold. The lowest temperatures were recorded in the north-eastern regions of Poland, ranging from below 15 to 16°C. The highest temperatures occurred in the south-western and southern regions, ranging from 17 to more than 18.5°C.

June was also highly diversified in terms of precipitation distribution. In the southern and south-eastern parts of the country it was very scarce and ranged from below 20 to 50 mm. It constituted 50-70% of the multiannual norm. More intense precipitation occurred in the north-western and north-eastern parts of Poland, ranging from 100 to 160 mm and constituting 150-230% of the norm. In the majority of the country precipitation ranged from 50 to 100 mm and exceeded the multiannual norm even by 50%.

In the first decade of July relatively intense precipitation occurred in three areas: in the north, south and central part of the country, where it ranged from 20 to 80 mm. In the rest of Poland precipitation was scarce, from 5 to 20 mm or, at times, below 5 mm. In the second decade of the month, in the north-eastern and western regions precipitation remained relatively intense (20-80 mm), while in the lubelskie region precipitation was very intense and ranged from 80 to more than 100 mm. Low precipitation, below 10 mm was recorded in the south-eastern part of the country. In the vast majority of the country it ranged from 5 to 30 mm.

In the second decade of July intense precipitation occurred in the areas seriously affected by drought, which reduced water deficiency for many crops.

Report prepared by:

Dr hab. Andrzej Doroszewski, prof. nadzw.

Dr hab. Rafał Pudełko

Dr Katarzyna Żyłowska

Mgr Piotr Koza

Mgr Elżbieta Wróblewska