This year’s defense season has gotten off to a busy start for the National Ice Damage Mitigation System

(Photo: Pixabay)

The defense season got off to a busy start for the National Ice Damage Mitigation System (JÉGER). On April 15, several heat records were broken in our country, at Kiszombor station the highest temperature in the country was measured (31.4 degrees), breaking the highest daily maximum temperature record.

When the warm, dry summer weather of the three weeks before April 15 was ended by a clear cold front, several thunderstorms formed in the country with the risk of ice, which is not typical of April weather.

After the arrival of the front, the temperature dropped by 20 degrees in several places, and in some places in the southwest of the country it was 25 degrees colder compared to the day before. The cold front brought enough moisture and cool air, causing the atmosphere to ‘explode’. During the two weeks between April 15 and 28, it was necessary to turn on the ground generators for a total of seven days. In the northern and western parts of the country, the operation of ground generators was necessary for a long time. It is important to point out that during the opening week, accusations that the ice damage mitigation system had anything to do with the lack of precipitation were immediately refuted, as it rained in all parts of the country in addition to the operation of the ground generators. Although temperatures were lower than normal in most parts of the country after the cooling on April 16, despite the cold weather in our country, heavy rain showers and supercell thunderstorms have formed several times, in many places accompanied by ice the size of wheat and peas. . During this period, farmers reported a total of 34 cases of ice that caused no damage; most detections came from Baranya and Győr-Moson-Sopron provinces.

This cyclone caused serious agricultural damage in neighboring Romania

The weather turned out to be extreme not only in our country, but also in various parts of Europe heavy thunderstorms, which in some areas were accompanied by large ice, caused problems. In Romania, Greece, Bulgaria and Croatia, the ice also caused significant damage, and in France, Spain and Portugal, not only agricultural areas were affected, but also residential buildings were damaged by the large amount of ice.

The National Ice Damage Mitigation System (JÉGER), managed by the National Chamber of Agriculture, has started its seventh protection season this year, the alert period lasting until September 30, 2024

The system’s bottom generators, consisting of a total of 986 – 219 automatic and 767 manual – bottom generators providing nationwide coverage, burn an active substance containing silver iodide, which rises into the clouds, reducing the size of the ice particles that form. over there. It is important to point out that the risk of hail occurring despite the operation of JÉGER cannot be completely excluded, but it can be guaranteed that the size of falling ice particles will be smaller than those that would fall without the use of the system .

NAK