Crop growth subsequently dropped and NDVI was below average due to large-scale heavy snowfall. However, crop growth was accelerated since March and the peak in late April and early May exceeded the maximum for almost five years.

According to the NDVI development graph, crop growth was below average before mid-February due to cold temperatures.  Short-term above-average temperatures and heavy rainfall led to an above-average NDVI in mid-February.  Crop growth subsequently dropped and NDVI was below average due to large-scale heavy snowfall.  However, crop growth has accelerated since March and the peak in late April and early May exceeded the maximum for almost five years.  NDVI departure clustering map showed that 49.5% of the cultivated land (red, dark green, and blue colors in the NDVI departure clustering map) was below the average since February, but it showed an increase in NDVI value starting in April, where mainly in eastern Henan, northern Jiangsu.  It reached the 5-year maximum by the end of this monitoring period.  The VCIx map showed that the growth of winter wheat was negative around the Bohai Bay area, while the remaining areas were close to or better than average.  The VCIx value was above 1 in the Shandong Peninsula, northern Shandong, and southeastern Hebei, which indicated crop growth was the best.

The maximum Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) was 0.92, the Crop Production Index (CPI) was 1.10, and the CALF exceeded the 5YA by 7%. Generally, the growth conditions of winter wheat in the whole region were optimistic.

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI 

(b) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA   (c) NDVI profiles

(d)Time series rainfall profile

(e)Time series temperature profile

(f) Maximum VCI

(g) Biomass departure