Last week there was significant to extreme drought, especially in the northern half of Slovakia and in the far east. Extreme drought has so far affected one percent of the territory, mainly the regions Orava, Spišská Magura, Levočské vrchy, Pieniny, Poloniny and Vihorlat. The Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMÚ) reported on this on its website.
“Drought of varying intensity is observed in almost half of the territory of Slovakia. In the surface layer, the situation is similar to that in the entire profile,” experts added, adding that significant drought is also rare in western Slovakia. In the deeper layer, there is moderate to significant drought, especially in the northern half of the territory. There is a local extreme drought in the area of Stara Ľubovnaadded.
According to SHMÚ, the soil moisture deficit is the highest minus 40 to minus 60 millimeters locally in western and southwestern Slovakia, in the east it is at most minus 20 to minus 40 millimeters. The excess moisture is at most plus 20 to plus 40 millimeters in the vicinity of Lučenac and Rimavská Sobota, in the Košice basin and on Spiš.
Last week, precipitation occurred mainly on Thursday, March 12, in the form of showers locally and on the other days. SHMÚ claims that the most precipitation fell locally in Orava, Považí, Turci and Polana, five to ten millimeters. In most of the Banskobystrické, Žilina and Trenčia regions, the amount of precipitation was up to five millimeters. There was no precipitation in most of the Záhorská nižina, Podunajska nížina, but also in most of Zemplín, experts said.
“The highest air temperature was around 20 degrees Celsius on Thursday in Žiarská kotlina and upper Nitra. The lowest air temperature dropped to minus seven degrees Celsius in Zamaguri and Slovak Paradise,” stated SHMÚ.
