Romania presented average crop conditions during October to January (VCIx=0.77). The winter wheat and maize harvest was completed before October; the next three months were the planting season for winter wheat. Cropped arable land was 7% above the five-year average. Overall, weather was warm with temperature up 0.4°C compared to average. Precipitation was abundant (42% above average), while the potential biomass was up to 17%higher than average due to the heavy rainfall. As a result of the cold weather over eastern Romania, including Chisinau and Bucharest, NDVI was significantly belowthe recent five-year average. In the west and southwest, including Oradea,Arad, Timisoara and Craiova, croplands benefited from warm conditions. Overall,the winter crops in Romania display very different conditions between west (favorable)and east (unfavorable).

Figure3.26. Romania crop condition, October2014-January 2015

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