Precipitation shortage rises above drought of 2018

The precipitation deficit has again increased sharply in recent times and is now higher than the dry and warm summer of 2018. Precipitation is desperately needed to get the harvest of potatoes and onions off the country.

More and more growers are having to leave the harvest as it is for the time being due to the drought. It is a dusty mess, with a lot of damage during harvesting as a result. Some growers irrigate their fields in order to harvest, but that is not always a success. It is now so dry that we passed the precipitation deficit of 2018 at the end of August. At the beginning of September we are at a precipitation deficit of 313 millimeters and are thus approaching the record year 1976. In the meantime, precipitation is finally expected in the coming days, so that the precipitation deficit in the next 15 days will fall to below 300 millimeters according to these forecasts. .

Like all other months this year, August was very sunny. On average, August has 205 hours of sunshine, but last month there were 289. No other year had as many hours of sunshine up to and including September 4 as 2022. This puts 2022 on track to be the sunniest ever since the measurements, Weeronline reports. With the exception of a few outliers, there was considerably less precipitation than usual this month. The coastal areas and Utrecht still received the most precipitation, but there too fell less than the long-term average. The least precipitation fell in North Brabant and Gelderland. 

Precipitation sum August 2022 according to the KNMI. The average precipitation sum for the month of August according to the KNMI.

The temperature in August was also higher than what we are used to. We have passed the 16,9 degrees of last year by far. Normal for the time of year is 17,9 degrees, but we passed that this year with 20,0 degrees. The highest temperatures this month ranged from 21 to 32 degrees. 

Robin Winter

Intern at the Boerenbusiness Dutch Crop tour

r.dewinter@boerenbusiness. Nl

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