East & Central Europe heavy snow and frost destroyscrops

Pa ElGrande

This week saw of severe snow and frost across parts of Europe that is a severe setback for those involved in agriculture.


Winter returned to Russia and Europe? - http://www.meteo-tv.ru/news/Kommentarii-sinoptika/V-Rossiyu-i-Evropu-vernulas-zima/

Via google translate

In Russia and Europe, anomalously cold weather was established these days, the temperature is below the norm by 4-8 degrees, on the eve in some regions snow fell, cold records were held.


While in the Asian part of Russia spring is in full swing, in some places even ahead of schedule (for example, in the north of Yakutia and in Chukotka, the temperature outstrips the climatic norm by 8-12 degrees), in the European part of Russia and in Europe the temperature does not reach 4-6 Degrees, and sometimes more!

The matter is that the Atlantic cyclones these days have chosen a southern route, leaving the most part of Europe in the rear parts where the northern wind blows. And along the atmospheric fronts are not only rains, but also snow! Snow on the eve fell in the Volga and in the Black Earth. Covered the snow and a number of European countries, for example, he fell in Germany.

The region did not avoid records of cold weather. So, in Russia, the weather records updated Smolensk (where the air cooled to -6.8 degrees) and Tula (-6.5)! The neighbors scored Vilnius (-5.8), Mogilev (-5.7), Bobruisk (-6.8) and Ivano-Frankivsk (-4.8).

And the cold weather will continue for several days. Negative temperature during the night hours is expected in most of Europe (from the Urals to the Pyrenees) all week! In some places (mainly in mountainous areas) it can reach -10 degrees! Yes, and in the daytime in Central and Eastern Europe will not be above +5 degrees.

Spring is still delayed!

Desperate wine and fruit farmers fight against frostbite with fire and helicopters - http://www.dr.dk/nyheder/vejret/desperate-vin-og-frugtavlere-kaemper-mod-frostvejr-med-ild-og-helikoptere

via google translate

There is a serious reason why Beate Vollmayer goes and turns light between his vines.

"It would be such a shame if two or three nights of frost would destroy the whole fall," says German wine growers.

She is one of the many German and Swiss wine farmers who are struggling to save the autumn from the frost.

While March has offered over twenty degrees of warmth, some areas of Central and Eastern Europe have now gained over 30 centimeters of snow in recent days.

The German orchard owners are also threatened by the cold easter weather.

- It indicates that more than 90 percent is lost. And it's a bitter pill to swallow, says Herbert Sailer as he adds to his crops.

Some of his colleagues try to encapsulate the fruit trees' buds in ice while others use helicopters to prevent the cold air from lying on the ground.

Snow leaves 1000 homes in western Serbia without electricity - http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society.php?yyyy=2017&mm=04&dd=21&nav_id=101085


From Hungary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GcjN_zXtJA

Viktor Klausmann, in a fresh sixteen-centimeter-inch fresh snow, told FEM3 Café of the Kékestető. He said that this amount of snow has never fallen this time of the year, so there is a real winter landscape on the weekend for hikers in Matra.

From Moldova

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C5PdwWMj9Q

Italy: Temperatures slightly below 0°C in Emilia Romagna -

In Romagna, the risk of frost usually continues until Easter. However, we must bear in mind that damage depends on how long the temperatures actually remain below zero.

In the case of slight frost, orchards can also be protected with under-foliage irrigation. Water turning into ice generates heat, so it takes very little to raise the temperature. An orchard where the grass is tall and that can be irrigated with micro-irrigation is generally a few tenths of a degree warmer than the bare ground. In Trentino, using irrigation to protect apple blossoming is perfectly normal.

Cold wintry weather sweeps over central Europe - http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/cold-wintry-weather-sweeps-central-europe-170419101523736.html

Efforts have been made to protect the blossom but some damage is inevitable. The trees are usually sprayed with water before a frost.

They then freeze over so when the temperature drops further the young buds remain protected. This technique has been used in Italy for some time now.

However, the current water scarcity in Trento, northern Italy, means that they have not been able to protect their delicate fruit this time around.

Those areas in northern Italy, across the Alps and into the Balkans have been cold enough for some significant and even heavy snowfalls. Some parts of the higher ground have recorded up to a metre of fresh snow over the past few days.

Temperatures have been as much as 10 to 15 degrees below average across the region. Vienna has been particularly cold, with temperatures struggling to reach 3C or 4C. The April average is 15C.

It will be the weekend before those temperatures get anywhere near double figures. We can expect highs of nearer 19C by Tuesday.

The current spell of thundery downpours, rain, sleet and snow still extends from the Alps to the Balkans.

The wintry mix is forecast to drift across the Hungarian Plain over the next few days, allowing that return to spring warmth.

How to protect fruit flowers against frost damage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VjNm7azGkg

Markus Kobelt the founder and breeder of the Swiss fruit tree nursery Lubera.Tells about the late frost danger.

Late frosts are the most dangerous threat for commercial apple (fruit) growers. A real heavy late night frost can ruin a whole years crop, if the apple blooms are not protected.
In professional fruit growing, the blooms are protected with overhead sprinklers. The sprinkler run all night, so by degrees below 0°C, the water on the blooms will become ice. During this transformation, energy is set free and covered within the iced blooms. This energy keeps the blooms warmer than 0°C and they will not be damaged.

Danno

In Italy they have lit night fires in the vineyards to keep the frost at bay:



See ---> http://corrierealpi.gelocal.it/belluno/cronaca/2017/04/22/news/un-gelo-anomalo-in-provincia-di-belluno-notte-di-fuochi-per-salvare-le-vigne-1.15228129?refresh_ce

You'll need Chrome to translate to English.

snaps

I posted some photos from southern poland in the spring thread. Its been most bizzare here. 6 month winter.