Climate of our farm

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.

YearMin. temp.Max. temp.Precipitation
(mm)
Longest dry spell (days)Days with snowLast frostFirst frostDays below
0 °C
Days below
-5 °C
Days below
-10 °C
Days below
-15 °C
Days below
-20 °C
1973-17,034,0342452403.2310.1310128620
1974-7,035,061329804.2010.18532000
1975-10,032,0592371703.2210.209327000
1976-19,034,0445373203.3010.219633820
1977-16,035,0482302604.2109.296921510
1978-18,032,0578572605.1310.228718520
1979-15,035,0437341504.2010.256522800
1980-20,034,0453232604.1310.2085381220
1981-16,036,0511342904.2010.2982391510
1982-14,533,4406301804.2411.068533600
1983-14,637,3347452203.1610.239339600
1984-14,435,3513233404.2910.179325300
1985-22,135,1500354003.3010.17904535223
1986-18,434,4346514605.3110.0611233620
1987-27,835,9465423203.2410.2788592193
1988-16,638,8398262604.2510.2610222610
1989-11,234,3512561403.2810.058721300
1990-12,234,9392311903.1909.29.8315200
1991-17,435,5693322204.2310.23105491820
1992-12,637,5818421604.22.10.139321300
1993-17,336,3553283604.1010.27118431640
1994-11,036,2398201804.0410.107418200
1995-11,834,0441393104.1510.239527600
1996-20,035,1282414904.1510.26100411440
1997-14,434,0344331904.2410.1811629500
1998-14,836,0561381604.1510.06108441500
1999-14,035,1779263603.2510.1610520500
2000-13,038,0240531904.0910.2210117400
2001-24,938,2704342804.1610.2895371352
2002-14,338,1370291904.0810.0882211000
2003-24,937,2434683104.1010.16120612791
2004-15,836,5662304003.2911.2084281020
2005-20,735,5646574804.0310.20118361892
2006-14,134,3515243803.2510.1790251000
2007-11,040,0541242404.2310.147914100
2008-12,638,7461221703.2711.157323300
2009-17,236,1485272803.2710.317327930
2010-15,435,0806215003.1810.2289321520
2011-12,738,3346413403.2210.1510434300
2012-22,539,4399383504.1010.3092412184
2013-10,838,2556253604.0110.048915100
2014-13,534,578925903.2610.274914200
2015-13,737,4444341604.1911.01669100
2016-10,135,7583161803.2811.048322200
2017-18,339,3434412004.2211.0481311130
2018-19,635,0546393203.2811.157217420
2019-13,636,9503521703.2810.086712200
2020-7,336,453936004.1611.21628000
Average-15,835,95043526,288,527,88,32,00,3

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.


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