© Meteo Europe
Farmers in Grisons, Switzerland protecting their vineyards from frost on April 27 with thousands of fire lights.
In several European countries -
such as Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, France and Belgium - apples, pears, cherries and grapes were frozen early last week. The snowfall also created challenges with the roofing systems, and occasionally the snow
completely ruined things. Snow and cold temperatures are predicted for some places in the coming nights again. NFO, the Dutch fruit growers association, summarised the results per country as follows:
Austria
In the cultivation area in the state of Styria
the words 'complete catastrophe' have been used. About 80 per cent of the fruit harvest would be destroyed (see photo left of the news report in which firefighters remove snow from hail nets in Gleisdorf, the link is at the bottom of this article and external). During the night from Monday to Tuesday the
small fruits had to endure temperatures of 2 to 6 degrees below freezing according to the Landwirtschaftskammer. Initial estimates concerning approximately 2,000 Styrian cultivators indicate €100 million Euro in damages for the fruit sector (without grapes) alone. Councillor Hans Seitinger: "
This is truly a unique situation, which has not occurred in the last 50 years."
Whether financial support will be given to the affected growers has to be further examined. Austrian growers have broad weather insurance, but because of the high premiums not a lot of growers use it.
Damages have also been reported from Burgenland, slightly more to the east, where temperatures were recorded at 3 to 4 degrees below freezing. Austria produces about 170 million kilograms of apples annually. Golden Delicious and Gala are the largest strains.
Comment: A study last year showed that wildfire seasons are more destructive and lasting longer almost everywhere on Earth.