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News article25 January 2021

Cold and snowy start of 2021 in south-western Europe

Areas of concern_extreme weather events Dec2020_Jan2021
Areas of concern_extreme weather events
© © European Union 2021

According to the January issue of the JRC MARS Bulletin - Crop monitoring in Europe – which was published today, weather conditions since the start of winter have been predominantly warmer than usual in most parts of Europe, but with significant cold spells at the beginning of December and January, most markedly in the Iberian Peninsula, western France, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Storm Filomena, which accompanied the cold spell at the beginning of January, triggered an exceptional snow event in large parts of Spain.

In contrast, significantly warmer-than-usual conditions prevailed in large parts of south-eastern Europe, as well as in Turkey. In central Turkey, a persistent rain deficit has started to raise concerns about soil moisture replenishment and recharge of irrigation reservoirs. A marked rain surplus occurred in south-eastern Europe, Italy and the Maghreb region.

Frost-kill model simulations suggest that the frost tolerance of winter cereals has increased considerably in large parts of Europe, but it remains much weaker than usual in south-eastern Europe and Turkey. Frost damage remains limited. In addition to the likely damage reported in the December 2020 issue of the Bulletin, further damage may have occurred in the Volga okrug (in European Russia) and locally in northern Romania and the central Balkans, northern Spain and north-western Turkey.

Further information

JRC MARS (Monitoring Agricultural Resources) Bulletins

The latest information about global agricultural production hotspots for countries with food insecurity risks is available on the JRC’s ASAP (Anomaly hot Spots of Agricultural Production) site.

For email notifications of new Bulletins, please subscribe through the JRC's Agri4Cast ToolBox

The February 2021 issue of the Bulletin will be published on 22 February.

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ASAP (Anomaly hot Spots of Agricultural Production)

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Publication date
25 January 2021