The latest JRC MARS report reports that strong weather contrasts have mixed effects on crops in Europe.

Large parts of Northern Europe experienced a distinct drop in temperatures at the start of the New Year. Significantly warmer than usual conditions prevailed in SE Europe. Excessive rainfall continues to affect many parts of northwestern, central and eastern Europe. The Mediterranean regions were affected by a lack of sufficient rainfall, and in some regions the situation turned into a drought.

Significantly warmer than usual conditions were observed in Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, southern Ukraine, southern European Russia and central and northeastern Turkey. Mild thermal conditions in these regions helped to strengthen late-sown winter cereals, but weakened tolerance to low temperatures, thereby increasing the risk of frost damage, especially in southern European Russia.

Pronounced water deficits are observed along the Mediterranean coast of Spain, in several parts of central and southern Italy, southwestern Romania, Greece, Cyprus, central Turkey and the Maghreb region.

In Italy, the ongoing drought in Sicily continued to have a negative impact on winter crop biomass accumulation.

In Spain, the persistent lack of rainfall in the Mediterranean coastal areas continued to hamper the sowing and initial development of winter cereals.

In Cyprus, water deficit combined with record high temperatures negatively affected barley development. In the Maghreb region, the combination of distinctly below-average rainfall and above-average temperatures since the start of the winter crop season has resulted in delayed crop growth and development in all agricultural areas of Algeria and large parts of Morocco and Tunisia.

At the other extreme, many parts of central and eastern Europe, as well as the Benelux countries and central parts of the UK, are left with heavy rainfall. In the Benelux countries, especially the Netherlands, excessive rainfall and wet soils continue to hamper the sowing of winter crops.

In Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, heavy rainfall accompanied by rapid snowmelt - especially in the second half of December - led to waterlogged fields and localized flooding, especially in northwestern Germany.

In other parts of Central and Eastern Europe, the excess rainfall did not have a significant negative impact on crops and contributed to the formation of a protective snow cover.