Our farm is located near Szeged, Hungary. It is in the middle of a low-laying plain.
Climate
Hungary is influenced by 3 large climate areas: the wet and mild Western European Atlantic climate from the west, the cold and dry Continental climate from the east, and the Mediterranean climate from the south. The influence of the continental climate is the strongest, but there are big variations dictated by the shifting of the limits between the different climates. We are in a big lowland, so microclimates based on the topography are absent. The summers are typically hot, winters are cold. The Mediterranean effect is negligible. We are in a summer-rainfall area, but the summers feel dry because of the high temperatures.
Our climate in numbers:
Elevation: 83 m
Sunshine in a year: 2000 hours
Yearly precipitation: 500 mm
Highest temperature ever measured: 42 °C
Lowest temperature ever measured: -30 °C
I used GSOD data (Global Surface Summary of the Day from NOAA) to calculate the following table. It contains data from 1973 for Szeged. The meteorology station is near the airport, which is only a few kilometers from our farm, so the data can be applied to our farm with great precision.
Year | Min. temp. | Max. temp. | Precipitation (mm) | Longest dry spell (days) | Days with snow | Last frost | First frost | Days below 0 °C | Days below -5 °C | Days below -10 °C | Days below -15 °C | Days below -20 °C |
1973 | -17,0 | 34,0 | 342 | 45 | 24 | 03.23 | 10.13 | 101 | 28 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
1974 | -7,0 | 35,0 | 613 | 29 | 8 | 04.20 | 10.18 | 53 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1975 | -10,0 | 32,0 | 592 | 37 | 17 | 03.22 | 10.20 | 93 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1976 | -19,0 | 34,0 | 445 | 37 | 32 | 03.30 | 10.21 | 96 | 33 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
1977 | -16,0 | 35,0 | 482 | 30 | 26 | 04.21 | 09.29 | 69 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
1978 | -18,0 | 32,0 | 578 | 57 | 26 | 05.13 | 10.22 | 87 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
1979 | -15,0 | 35,0 | 437 | 34 | 15 | 04.20 | 10.25 | 65 | 22 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
1980 | -20,0 | 34,0 | 453 | 23 | 26 | 04.13 | 10.20 | 85 | 38 | 12 | 2 | 0 |
1981 | -16,0 | 36,0 | 511 | 34 | 29 | 04.20 | 10.29 | 82 | 39 | 15 | 1 | 0 |
1982 | -14,5 | 33,4 | 406 | 30 | 18 | 04.24 | 11.06 | 85 | 33 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
1983 | -14,6 | 37,3 | 347 | 45 | 22 | 03.16 | 10.23 | 93 | 39 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
1984 | -14,4 | 35,3 | 513 | 23 | 34 | 04.29 | 10.17 | 93 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
1985 | -22,1 | 35,1 | 500 | 35 | 40 | 03.30 | 10.17 | 90 | 45 | 35 | 22 | 3 |
1986 | -18,4 | 34,4 | 346 | 51 | 46 | 05.31 | 10.06 | 112 | 33 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
1987 | -27,8 | 35,9 | 465 | 42 | 32 | 03.24 | 10.27 | 88 | 59 | 21 | 9 | 3 |
1988 | -16,6 | 38,8 | 398 | 26 | 26 | 04.25 | 10.26 | 102 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
1989 | -11,2 | 34,3 | 512 | 56 | 14 | 03.28 | 10.05 | 87 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
1990 | -12,2 | 34,9 | 392 | 31 | 19 | 03.19 | 09.29. | 83 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
1991 | -17,4 | 35,5 | 693 | 32 | 22 | 04.23 | 10.23 | 105 | 49 | 18 | 2 | 0 |
1992 | -12,6 | 37,5 | 818 | 42 | 16 | 04.22. | 10.13 | 93 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
1993 | -17,3 | 36,3 | 553 | 28 | 36 | 04.10 | 10.27 | 118 | 43 | 16 | 4 | 0 |
1994 | -11,0 | 36,2 | 398 | 20 | 18 | 04.04 | 10.10 | 74 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
1995 | -11,8 | 34,0 | 441 | 39 | 31 | 04.15 | 10.23 | 95 | 27 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
1996 | -20,0 | 35,1 | 282 | 41 | 49 | 04.15 | 10.26 | 100 | 41 | 14 | 4 | 0 |
1997 | -14,4 | 34,0 | 344 | 33 | 19 | 04.24 | 10.18 | 116 | 29 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
1998 | -14,8 | 36,0 | 561 | 38 | 16 | 04.15 | 10.06 | 108 | 44 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
1999 | -14,0 | 35,1 | 779 | 26 | 36 | 03.25 | 10.16 | 105 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
2000 | -13,0 | 38,0 | 240 | 53 | 19 | 04.09 | 10.22 | 101 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
2001 | -24,9 | 38,2 | 704 | 34 | 28 | 04.16 | 10.28 | 95 | 37 | 13 | 5 | 2 |
2002 | -14,3 | 38,1 | 370 | 29 | 19 | 04.08 | 10.08 | 82 | 21 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
2003 | -24,9 | 37,2 | 434 | 68 | 31 | 04.10 | 10.16 | 120 | 61 | 27 | 9 | 1 |
2004 | -15,8 | 36,5 | 662 | 30 | 40 | 03.29 | 11.20 | 84 | 28 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
2005 | -20,7 | 35,5 | 646 | 57 | 48 | 04.03 | 10.20 | 118 | 36 | 18 | 9 | 2 |
2006 | -14,1 | 34,3 | 515 | 24 | 38 | 03.25 | 10.17 | 90 | 25 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
2007 | -11,0 | 40,0 | 541 | 24 | 24 | 04.23 | 10.14 | 79 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2008 | -12,6 | 38,7 | 461 | 22 | 17 | 03.27 | 11.15 | 73 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
2009 | -17,2 | 36,1 | 485 | 27 | 28 | 03.27 | 10.31 | 73 | 27 | 9 | 3 | 0 |
2010 | -15,4 | 35,0 | 806 | 21 | 50 | 03.18 | 10.22 | 89 | 32 | 15 | 2 | 0 |
2011 | -12,7 | 38,3 | 346 | 41 | 34 | 03.22 | 10.15 | 104 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
2012 | -22,5 | 39,4 | 399 | 38 | 35 | 04.10 | 10.30 | 92 | 41 | 21 | 8 | 4 |
2013 | -10,8 | 38,2 | 556 | 25 | 36 | 04.01 | 10.04 | 89 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2014 | -13,5 | 34,5 | 789 | 25 | 9 | 03.26 | 10.27 | 49 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
2015 | -13,7 | 37,4 | 444 | 34 | 16 | 04.19 | 11.01 | 66 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2016 | -10,1 | 35,7 | 583 | 16 | 18 | 03.28 | 11.04 | 83 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
2017 | -18,3 | 39,3 | 434 | 41 | 20 | 04.22 | 11.04 | 81 | 31 | 11 | 3 | 0 |
2018 | -19,6 | 35,0 | 546 | 39 | 32 | 03.28 | 11.15 | 72 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
2019 | -13,6 | 36,9 | 503 | 52 | 17 | 03.28 | 10.08 | 67 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
2020 | -7,3 | 36,4 | 539 | 36 | 0 | 04.16 | 11.21 | 62 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Average | -15,8 | 35,9 | 504 | 35 | 26,2 | 88,5 | 27,8 | 8,3 | 2,0 | 0,3 |
Looking at the details You can see great year-to-year variations in every parameter. Yearly precipitation varies between 200 and 800, minimum temperature between -7 and -30 °C.
Also there are periods of 1 to 2 months in every year without precipitation. Typically it occurrs in the spring or summer. A good planning is needed to counteract the effect of these dry spells.
You can see from the table that really cold winters are rare. Winters below -20 °C occur every 10 years or so, and there are only a few days yearly with temperatures below -10 °C. If we plan to grow plants here from a warmer climate zone, then we have to protect them on those really cold days only.
Also, observation of plant coldhardiness is tricky here. We have to test for a long time, until a really cold winter arrives. A few years will not show a plant’s real hardiness.
Categorizing our climate is tricky.
The USDA plant hardiness zone system works with the average of annual minimum temperatures. Based on this data our farm is in zone 7a. But the year-to-year variation is huge, so we can safely grow plants from zone 6 only.
The Köppen Climate Classification also gives inconsistent results. Our area is a mosaic of Dfa (Hot-summer continental), Dfb (Warm-summer continental) and BSk (Cold semi-arid) zones.