The Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute, in accordance with the Act of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, has developed the climatic water balance values for all 2477 Polish municipalities (gminas) and, based on soil categories, calculated the current risk of agricultural drought.
In the eleventh reporting period, i.e. from July 1st to August 31st, 2021 the average value of Climatic Water Balance (CWB), which is the basis for assessing the risk of agricultural drought, was positive and equalled 40.7 mm. The average CWB value has increased by 65 mm in relation to the previous reporting period (June 21st – August 20th). It resulted from increased precipitation and decreased evapotranspiration (on average by 23.6 mm in relation to the previous reporting period).
The highest water deficit ranging from -120 to -159 mm was recorded in the area of the Białogard Plain, the Łobez Plateau, the Wałcz Lake District, the Wałcz Plain, and the Central Noteć Valley.
Based on the current humidity conditions, IUNG-PIB states no occurrence of agricultural drought in the area of Poland
In the first decade of July, it was the warmest in the east of Poland, in the Carpathian Piedmont and the Sandomierz Basin, where temperature exceeded 21°C. The lowest temperatures were recorded in the mountains, from 14 to 16°C. In the rest of the country, temperatures ranged from 17 to 21°C. In the second decade of the month, the highest temperature exceeding 23°C was recorded in Lublin Polesie. The lowest temperatures occurred in the Sudetes, the Sudeten Foothills, the Western Beskidian Piedmont and in the Western Beskids, ranging from 16 to 20°C. In the rest of the country temperatures ranged from 20 to 23°C.
In the third decade of July, in the vast majority of the country temperatures exceeded 21°C. Lower temperature was recorded in the Lake Districts: Pomeranian, Iława, Lithuanian and in the eastern part of the Masurian Lake District, in the Silesian-Łużyce Lowland, in the eastern part of the North Podlasie Lowland and in the Uplands: Przedbórz and Woźniki-Wieluń, where it ranged from 17 to 21°C.
In the first decade of August, the highest temperatures were recorded in the eastern and southern part of the Sandomierz Basin, in Roztocze, in the south-eastern part of the Lublin Upland and in the Volhynian Upland, reaching above 19°C. The coldest temperatures, from 13 to 16°C, were recorded in the Sudetes, the Sudeten Foothills and in the Western Beskids. In the rest of the country temperatures ranged from 16 to 19°C.
In the second decade of August, the highest temperature (above 19°C) was recorded in the western part of the Sandomierz Basin, in the Orawa Basin and the Oświęcim Basin, and in the Silesian Lowland. The lowest temperatures, from 13 to 16°C, were recorded in the Sudetes, in the northern part of the South Pomeranian Lake District, the eastern and central part of the West Pomeranian Lake District, in the Lithuanian Lake District, in the eastern part of: the Masurian Lake District, the Iława Lake District, the Chełmno-Dobrzyń Lake District, in the central part of the North Podlasie Lowland and in the Western Beskids. In the rest of the country temperature ranged from 16 to 19°C.
In the third decade of August, the highest temperature (above 15°C) was recorded in the northern part of the Gdańsk and the Szczecin Coastlands, in the central part of the Silesian Lowland, in the eastern part of the Toruń-Eberswalde ice-marginal valley and in the eastern part of the Lubusz Lake District. The coldest temperatures, from 9 to 12°C, were recorded in the Sudetes and the Western Beskids. In the rest of the country, temperatures ranged from 12 to 15°C.
In the first decade of July, the lowest precipitation values (below 15 mm) were recorded in the northern part of Lublin Polesie, in the Volhynian Upland, the eastern part of the Sandomierz Basin, in the Silesian Lowland and the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The highest values, from 70 to 110 mm, were recorded in the Masurian Lake District, the North Podlasie Lowland, in the central part of the Sandomierz Basin, in the western part of the Lublin Upland, in the North Masovian Lowland and the Iława Lake District. In the rest of the country precipitation ranged from 15 to 70 mm.
In the second decade of July, the highest precipitation was recorded in the central part of the Western Beskidian Piedmiont and the western part of the Masovian Lowland (above 75 mm). The lowest precipitation values (below 25 mm) were recorded in the Lublin Upland, in Polesie, the South Podlasie Lowland, the Silesian Lowland, the Masurian Lake District, in the Coastland, the Pomeranian Lake District, in the central part of the Greater Poland Lake District and in the Lubusz Land. In the rest of the country precipitation ranged from 25 to 75 mm.
In the third decade of July, the lowest precipitation (below 10 mm) was recorded in the Lake Districts: Pomeranian, Greater Poland, Lubusz, and Chełmno-Dobrzyń, in the western part of the Silesian Lowland, the North Podlasie Lowland and in the area connecting the Przedbórz and Woźniki-Wieluń Uplands on the one side with the South Greater Poland Lowland and the Southern Masovia Hills on the other. The highest precipitation was recorded in the Lithuanian Lake District, in the eastern part of the North Podlasie Lowland, in Western Polesie, the Sandomierz Basin, in the central part of the Central Masovian Lowland and in the south of Poland, ranging from 30 to more than 50 mm. In the rest of the country precipitation ranged from 10 to 30 mm.
In the first decade of August, the lowest precipitation (below 10 mm) was recorded in the Lubusz Lake District, in the western and central part of the Toruń-Eberswalde ice-marginal valley, in the north-western and central part of the Greater Poland Lake District and in the western and southern part of the South Pomeranian Lake District. The highest precipitation values, ranging from 60 to 110 mm, ocurred in the Central Masovian Lowland and the South Podlasie Lowland, in the Southern Masovia Hills, in the Uplands: Przedbórz, Kielce, Kraków-Częstochowa, Silesian, and Woźniki-Wieluń, in the western part of the Lublin Upland, in the Nida Basin and the north-western part of the Sandomierz Basin, in the Sudetes, the Western Beskidian Piedmont, and the Western Beskids. In the rest of the country precipitation ranged from 10 to 60 mm.
In the second decade of August, the highest precipitation occurred in the central part of the Koszalin Coastland (above 50 mm), whilst the lowest (below 10 mm) occurred in the central part of the Gdańsk Coastland, in Volhynian Polesie, the Volhynian Upland, in the eastern part of the Lublin Upland and Roztocze, in the Silesian Lowland, the Sudeten Foothills, in the Lake Districts: Greater Poland, Lubusz, and in the western and central part of the South Pomeranian Lake District, in the western part of the Trzebnica Hills, in the Lowlands: the Silesia-Łużyce Lowland, the South Greater Poland Lowland, and in the western and central part of the Toruń-Eberswalde ice-marginal valley.
In the third decade of August, the highest precipitation was recorded in the Western Beskids, in the Western Beskidian Foothills, in Podhale and the Tatra Mountains (above 120 mm). Whereas, the lowest precipitation (below 40 mm) occurred in the North Podlasie Lowland, in Volhynian Polesie, in the north-eastern part of the South Podlasie Lowland, in the southern part of the Masurian Lake District, northern part of the North Masovian Lowland, in the northern part of the Greater Poland Lake District and the Lubusz Lake District, in the Toruń-Eberswalde ice-marginal valley, the South Pomeranian Lake District, the Vistula Fens, the Lower Vistula Valley, the central part of the Koszalin Coastland, southern part of the Szczecin Coastland and northern part of the Chełmno-Dobrzyń Lake District. In the rest of the country, precipitation ranged from 40 to 120 mm.
We would like to inform that in accordance with the definition included in the Act of 7 July 2005 on insurance of agricultural crops and livestock (Journal of Laws No. 150, item 1249, as amended): “drought” means damage caused by the occurrence, in any sixty-day period from 21 March to 30 September, of a decline in the climatic water balance below the value specified for each crop species and soil type”. Thus, occurrence of drought in whichever sixty-day reporting period causes yield reduction by at least 20% at municipality level in relation to the yield obtained in the multiannual average weather conditions. On the website of the agricultural drought monitoring system at: www.susza.iung.pulawy.pl there is a page presenting information on drought risk monitoring, with the following options:
Drought risk maps \ Select crop \ Select period – in the case of period, the “Maximum range” option should be selected in order to obtain the following information on drought occurrence:
We would like to emphasize that the maximum range is the most reliable for indication of drought occurrence at the country, voivodeship, municipality and cadastral parcel levels.
Executive Director
Prof. dr hab. Wiesław Oleszek
Report prepared by: Dr hab. Andrzej Doroszewski, prof. IUNG-PIB, Dr hab. Rafał Pudełko, Dr Katarzyna Żyłowska, Dr Jan Jadczyszyn, Mgr Piotr Koza, Mgr Anna Jędrejek, Mgr Małgorzata Kozak, Adrian Matczuk