site.btaHail Suppression Service Ready for Hailstorm Season

The hailstorm season begins on April 10. The hail suppression will be carried out with anti-hail rockets over an area of about 2,200,000 ha in the regions of Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Sliven, Vidin, Montana, Vratsa and Pleven from 11 command posts and 262 rocket launching sites, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food said on Tuesday.

This year, the hailstorm season activity has started earlier than usual due to the higher temperatures in the beginning of April, which are conducive to the formation of dangerous hail clouds.

The Hail Suppression Agency (HAS) has secured the hail suppression operations with 11,793 anti-hail rockets. In case hailstorms are higher in frequency and intensity during the season, HAS is ready to purchase additional rockets, for which funds have been earmarked in accordance with the State Budget Act.

The 2024 hailstorm season will be monitored by seven radar stations across Bulgaria. 

According to HAS, less than 1% of the protected agricultural land was affected by hailstorms in 2023. 

A total of 15,042 rockets were fired during the 2023 hailstorm season, a number approximately equal to the previous year. The number of rocket impacts was 286 and 1,316 hail clouds were processed.