Results of scoring the resistance to powdery mildew of 127 spring barley varieties that were gradually included in 923 official variety trials were analysed. The resistance of a variety was defined by the level of infection by the disease. Therefore, the data can be used to assess the disease severity. Several characteristics indicative of disease severity were considered, including the disease severity coefficient (= average infection of non-resistant varieties in trials with a high disease severity/the proportion of such trials). The value of the coefficient is inversely proportional to disease severity. According to the coefficient the highest powdery mildew severity occurred in 1988, 1972 and 1995, and during the period 1971–1975. This is confirmed by results of some other characteristics, while that of further characteristics point to 1985–1989 as the period with the highest disease severity. The lowest disease severity was found in 1982 and 1977 and for the period 1976–1980. High disease severity was found every year in 9–75% (on average in 33%) of the trials. The characteristics of disease severity as well as the effects of widely grown and susceptible varieties of winter barley on the increase in inoculum potential and, as a consequence, on faster adaptation of the pathogen to resistance of spring barley, especially that conditioned by gene Mla13, are discussed.