The main crop during the monitoring period is winter wheat, which was planted in early October will complete its cycle by mid June. According to the crop condition development graph based on NDVI, crop condition was below 5YA during the entire period and slightly recovered in late April. According to the CropWatch agroclimatic indicators, temperature (TEMP) was generally average and precipitation (RAIN) was 36% above, while radiation (RADPAR) was 14% below. Sufficient precipitation provided good soil moisture and led to a 31% increase in biomass potential. The fraction of cropped arable land (CALF), however, decreased by 30%. Favorable yield conditions are shown by the biomass departure map: most areas  exhibit more than 20% increase except for parts of southern Hebei and Shandong, which show negative departures.

The whole region currently displays NDVI values that are below but close to average. This contrasts with the beginning of the monitoring period when NDVI showed large negative departures from average for almost the whole region, with very low values in the south. The improvement is confirmed by the VCIx distribution maps. Eastern Shandong and some isolated areas display low  VCIx values. The current  regional average was 0.56 at the end of April.

Figure 4.14a. Huanghuaihai crop condition development graph based on NDVI, comparing the January to April 2018 to the previous season, to the five-year average (5YA), and to the five-year maximum

Figure 4.14b. Huanghuaihai spatial NDVI patterns for January to April 2018 (compared to the (5YA) (left) and NDVI profiles associated with these spatial patterns (right)

Figure 4.14c. Huanghuaihai maximum VCI, January to April 2018

Figure 4.14d. Huanghuaihai biomass, January to April 2018