This report covers the end of the harvest season of summer crops and the sowing period of winter crops.

Cloudy and rainy weather dominated the agro-climatic conditions. As compared to the long-term average, precipitation was 24% higher, temperature 0.2℃ lower, and RADPAR 5% lower. Above average precipitation helps replenish soil moisture and thus benefits growth of winter crops. Temperature deviations varied greatly over time. It was much colder than normal in late October, and then the temperatures bounced back to average in the middle of November. In late December, above average temperatures were observed.

For all of North America, the potential biomass was 5% below average as compared to the last 15 years. However, above average potential biomass was observed in the central and southern plains, the most important winter wheat zone of the United States. This region benefitted most from the abundant precipitation. Due to the noise from harvest, the maximum VCI index in this monitoring period did not reflect the growing condition of winter crops in 2020. We therefore omitted the analysis of this parameter. It is noteworthy that the cropped land fraction was 13% above the previous 5 years, which restored from the low CALF in 2019 summer.

In summary, the agro-climatic conditions were favorable for the growth of winter crops between October 2019 and January 2020.

图.X Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles

图.X Spatial distribution of temperature profiles

图.X Maximum VCI

图.X VHI Minimum

图.X Potential biomass departure from 5YA

图.X Cropped and uncropped arable land