Weather extremes in the EU are bothering autumn residents

Mild weather at the end of December in the European Union gave way to cold weather in northern member states, and the sharp, rapid changes did not bode well for autumn crops, according to the January report from the European Agricultural Resources Monitoring Agency (MARS). In Denmark, a rapid drop in temperature, accompanied by heavy rains, resulted in the freezing of swampy fields and damage to fallow grass crops. Similar low temperatures in late December and early January damaged autumn trees in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where the snowpack turned out to be quite thin. In the Netherlands, heavy rains in December continued to hamper autumn sowing. In Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, excessive rainfall combined with rapid melting of snow due to high temperatures led to swamping of fields and flooding in places. In Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Italy, however, no significant adverse impact on autumn trees was reported. At the same time, a lack of ...