In August the amount of rainfall slowly decreases; in September and October still more, and so it continues until December. January is the month of least rainfall for the entire Ukraine (only one-fourth of the June figure), and this circumstance is of particularly great significance for the southern and eastern parts of the Ukraine. For this reason the cover of snow in the Ukraine is much less than in Central Europe or Muscovy, besides which, it is often disturbed by snowstorms. The slight snow-cover melts down quickly in the spring, without saturating the soil well, and without requiring much warmth. This explains the rapid rise of heat in the Ukrainian spring.
From January until the end of April the amount of rainfall again grows slowly but steadily, reaching its maximum in June.
The southern part of Crimea and the Caucasian shore have just the opposite annual distribution of the precipitations. Under the influence of the moist Pontian winds, the greatest amount of rain falls in December and January, while the spring and summer have very little rain. These characteristics of the Mediterranean climate, the rainy winter after the dry summer, are all the more striking,
since the opposite condition prevails on the other side of the Yaila and Caucasus Mountains.
From this account of the Ukrainian climate we see that this climate retains an entirely independent position as against that of Central Europe or Russia. The Ukrainian climate is characterized by an annual amplitude of 20° to 30°, a mean annual temperature of from +6° to +12°, a July mean of from +19° to +24°, and a January mean of from 0° to 8°, with predominant summer rains and a generally insignificant cover of snow. The difference from the Russian climate is, consequently, quite considerable. The Russian climate forms the transition to the polar, that of the Ukraine to the Mediterranean climate.
Nature has provided the Ukraine with a pleasant, very wholesome climate. On the whole temperate, it does not lack heavy frosts and considerable degrees of heat, which harden the Ukrainian to any inclemencies of the weather. The differences of the seasons cause a pleasant variety, strong winds clear the atmosphere and bring motion into nature, the rains are everywhere sufficient for the growth of vegetation and the carrying on of the most important occupation of the Ukraine — agriculture. The great uniformity of this Ukrainian climate has recently caused the French geographer, de Martonne, to set it up as one of the types of climate of the globe.
Flora and Fauna of Ukraine
Eastern European bigness characterizes also the organic life of the Ukraine. But it follows, from the location of the country, that the Ukraine has a much more varied plant and animal geography than the proper Russian territory, despite the latter's much greater extent.
In the Ukraine, the borders of three main divisions of plant-geography of Europe meet — the Mediterranean division, the steppe region, and the forest region, with their transition regions. Besides, we meet in the Ukraine three mountain regions — the Carpathian, the Crimean, and the Caucasian. In respect to flora, the Ukraine possesses only a few endemic species. To be sure the great ice period covered only comparatively small areas of the Ukraine with its glacier, but the polar flora undoubtedly prevailed in the entire country at that time. After the withdrawal of the glacier, steppes first appeared in its place, which then, especially in the Northwest, were forced to make room for a forest flora that had immigrated from Central Europe and Siberia. Hence, despite the considerable area of the Ukraine, so few endemic species.
Since those primeval days, only a very few natural changes have occurred in the vegetation of the Ukraine. However, man, thru his cultural activity, has wrought many changes in the plant-world of the country.
The forest region occupies barely one-fifth of the Ukrainian territory, only the northwestern and northern borderlands. The southeastern border of the forest region extends from the Prut and Dniester on the western boundary of Pokutye and Podolia in a curve to the source of the Buh, then near the northern boundary of the Dnieper Plateau east as far as Kiev, and thence toward the northeast as far as the source of the Aka. This boundary, however, is not sharp. In numerous peninsulas the compact forest penetrates the adjacent transition region toward the southeast. On the other hand, this forest boundary coincides almost exactly with the northern boundary of the black soil. The soil of the forest region is in general poor. Only in higher places we find fertile turf; beyond that sandy soil and the podsol, rich in quartz, predominate.