Already in mid-January, we informed for the first time about the persistent meteorological drought, which is also beginning to manifest itself in the soil moisture. The situation has not improved over the past four weeks. On the contrary, the absence of significant area precipitation continues to deepen the negative moisture balance, especially in the western half of Slovakia. The meteorological drought lasts for 97 to 100 days in the entire Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra and Trenčín regions, but also in the western part of the Žilina and Banská Bystrica regions. The drought is the most intense in the Danubian Lowland, where the precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) indicate extreme dry conditions.
The long-lasting meteorological drought was evidently transferred to the relative soil moisture and the intensity of the soil drought. In the top layer of the soil (up to a depth of 40 cm), which is important for farmers, we are currently monitoring significant to exceptional drought over almost whole western Slovakia. Locally, in Záhorie, Hronská pahorkatina and the surroundings of Bratislava, we even experience extreme soil drought.
The relative soil moisture in the Danubian Lowland varies between 30-50%, not only in the top layer of the soil (up to a depth of 40 cm), but also in the entire soil profile up to 1 m. The limit of 50% is the point of reduced availability, while values below this threshold mean stress for the vegetation due to lack of moisture. This impact not only forest stands, but also fruit trees and winter crops. In the near future, they will probably be stressed by bare frosts (frosts without the presence of a snow cover that would protect the stands) due to the influx of dry Arctic air from the polar region.
Due to the nature of the weather occurring in the 20-day window as of 9/2/2025 (±10 days around the selected date), which occurred during the reference period 1961-2015, the probability of normal or wetter conditions in almost all of western Slovakia during the next 2 months is only 10 to 20%. This means that if the typical weather pattern for this area continues over the next two months, we will continue to experience soil drought for the next 8 weeks. This can cause serious problems especially for the farmers, but also for the foresters in the most affected areas.
The whole report about current situation is available at https://www.shmu.sk/sk/?page=2049&id=1585.
Weekly updated information on the state of meteorological drought can be found on the SHMÚ meteorological drought monitoring page: https://www.shmu.sk/sk/?page=1&id=meteo_sucho.
Weekly updated information on the state of soil drought can be found on the Intersucho portal: https://www.intersucho.sk/sk
More information:
https://www.shmu.sk/sk/?page=2049&id=1585