Turnip weevils overwinter in the soil. As soon as the soil temperature rises above 8 °C at a depth of 10 cm in spring and the surface of the soil is dry, they leave their winter camp and begin their migration from the previous year's beet fields to the new ones. When the sugarbeet is just developing its first leaves, a single beetle can eat a square meter of sugarbeet field bare.

Beet weevils benefit from climate changes because they prefer nice, warm weather: they interrupt their migration during bad weather, and low temperatures and high soil moisture cause more eggs and larvae to die. In turn, low precipitation and high average temperatures in the months of April to June favor the development of the turnip weevil.