Cold winter weather in the picture, but not sure yet

The current long-term forecast (30-day) shows quite wintery conditions in Scandinavia, thanks to a northerly flow with very cold air. Offshoots of this could also cause the Netherlands to be put in deep freeze. The wind direction is decisive. If the wind blows from the northwest, winter showers can occur due to a combination of warm sea water and cold upper air. If the wind blows more from the east, it will remain dry and the mercury will quickly drop a few degrees further below zero.

Changeable weather
The position of the high and low pressure areas determines the wind direction. The latest wind maps show a more dominant low-pressure area, which indicates a westerly wind and therefore changeable and mild weather. This weather pattern is visible until mid-December. So there is no severe winter weather yet. There will not be large amounts of precipitation, but some (winter) precipitation is probably what we will get.

The weather models have calculated higher air pressure for the second half of December that could last until the beginning of January. If this comes true, it will be a prelude to drier and colder weather.

Cold in Central Europe
In the Netherlands, the mercury will be just below the multi-year average in the coming days with an occasional chance of winter precipitation. Central Europe does have to deal with real winter weather and it will remain that way. The cold air flow from the north has countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary in its grip and it is also wintery in Germany. A consequence of this weather is that the gas market currently heated and the price has risen by about 20%. Countries are bracing themselves for the winter, which will determine whether their energy supply is sufficient.

What does the arrival of King Winter mean for agriculture? Apart from the benefits, it means that a number of crops have to be removed from the land quickly. We already worked hard on this in the first week of December. On November 28, according to Cosun, 26.000 hectares of sugar beets still had to be cleared, mainly in the northeast of the Netherlands. More than a week later, the counter stood at more than 15.000 hectares. Given the harvesting conditions, another 10.000 hectares will probably be deducted from this figure this week.

Potato harvest not completed
Until the beginning of December, chip potatoes were still being harvested from growers in the southeast and northeast of the country. These are consignments that should actually have been delivered from land in September or October, but that customers have left behind because there is no need or to give priority to other (problem) consignments. Some growers have chosen not to wait and - those who had space - have already harvested and temporarily stored the product.

At the end of November, a large part of the celeriac was still in the ground. One to two days of sharp night frost did little to harm the frost-sensitive product. Arable farmers are now busy clearing to get everything in on time. Due to the dry summer, not all crops reached their target weight earlier. After rain fell in September, the celeriac started growing again, so it is still very green. That ultimately also cost revenue. Another crop that is still being harvested is carrot. Here too, lots still have to be cleared for storage or off the land. At the end of October, not every grower dared to harvest at the relatively high temperatures, after which the heavy rainfall in November often made this impossible.

Will the market follow?
Typical winter vegetables such as carrots and celeriac often see an upturn in the market when winter arrives. Central European countries will then enter the market earlier. At this time the trade still labeled as stiff. A change in this is not expected in the short term.