## 6 Conclusions  
The year 2018 was noticeably hot and dry, and such years are expected to become more frequent in Europe. Within this study, the vegetation condition of spring to autumn 2018 was investigated and compared to the growing period of the years 2000 to 2017.  
When assessing the years with stressed vegetation and yield losses between 2000 and 2018 more closely, it becomes clear that 2003 and 2018 are extraordinary as they are the only years showing strong negative effects in summer and autumn due to drought conditions. However, the spatial pattern and temporal development between these drought years differ. The year 2018 had, in terms of annual crop yields, a similar effect as 2003, even though the year started favorably, with vegetation conditions in April and May more positive compared to other years. The spatial and temporal variability was higher in 2018 than in 2003, highlighting the heterogeneity of vegetation condition in Germany in 2018. Within the study we also revealed the differing effects of drought conditions on various land cover types. Within croplands, the year 2011 showed stronger negative conditions--next to 2003 and 2018--when compared to other land cover types. Overall, grassland exhibits the strongest EVI deviances during drought conditions. In addition, patterns of reduced vegetation vigor within other years could be depicted on a monthly scale, e.g., 2006, 2010, 2011, and 2013. These years were partly characterized by dry and hot conditions. However, long-lasting winters with late phenological onsets and frosts were also often the reason for negative vegetation development. When these dynamics occur in spring months, additional information on weather conditions is important to understand the influencing factors.  
Including snow cover data would improve the comprehension of reduced EVI signals in spring. Adding soil moisture information might support the interpretation of diverging effects of weather and vegetation condition. Furthermore, a crop-specific analysis would be interesting in the future, as yield losses varied between crop types and the effects of the timing of the drought and heat event might become clearer.  
The following are available online at [[http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/15/1783/s1](http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/15/1783/s1)]([http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/15/1783/s1](http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/15/1783/s1)), Figure S1: Monthly averaged EVI anomalies and percentage of pixels, which are more negative than the median minus two standard deviations and pixels, which are more positive than the median plus two standard deviationsfor Germany for the years 2000-2018 for forest, Figure S2: County-level monthly EVI anomalies for the vegetation period of four years, including only grasslands. Counties comprising less than 10 valid pixels are excluded and are shown as no data class, Figure S3: Monthly Standardized Precipitation Index (one month) of Germany for 2018 provided by DWD (Deutscher Wetterdienst).  
**Author Contributions:** [PERSON] had the idea for the research question; [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] designed the study; [PERSON] processed and analyzed the data; [PERSON], [PERSON], C.K., and [PERSON] discussed the results together; [PERSON] and [PERSON] helped in visualization; [PERSON] wrote the original draft; [PERSON] and [PERSON] helped writing; U.G., S.A., and C.K. reviewed the draft.  
**Funding:** This research received no external funding.  
**Acknowledgments:** We gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for constructive comments for improvement of the manuscript. We would like to thank the DWD (Deutscher Wetterdienst) for the provided Standardized Precipitation Index data of the year 2018.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.