A hail front mixed with rain swept through a dozen fruit-growing towns in Lleida on Tuesday, from the Franja de Ponent, and caused damage to stone fruit and pome fruit farms. It was the third episode of this nature in the current campaign.
The extent of the hailstorm breaks with what happened in previous days. If the two previous episodes had been very localized, this time the impact spread through several municipalities in the study area of the Associació de Defensa Vegetal de les Terres de Ponent, with damage that the sector already considers certain in hundreds of hectares.
The storm hit from Soses to Bovera and Les Borges Blanques
The hail reached a size of between a pea and a hazelnut at times and in some areas. This intensity caused damage to the fruit, at least with marks on the skin when the ice did not break it.
The ADV of les Terres de Ponent has confirmed damage in farms without anti-hail nets in Soses, Torres de Segre, Puigverd de Lleida, Artesa de Lleida, Miralcamp, El Palau d'Anglesola, Juneda, and Bovera.
For its part, Unió de Pagesos is aware of hail in other municipalities in the Lleida plain, on a route that goes from Saidí to Bell-lloc and Les Borges Blanques. The territorial extent of the front indicates a broader episode than the previous ones in this same campaign.
The third episode of the campaign causes damage to stone fruit and pome fruit
The damage affects all types of fruit and at different stages of growth. Unió de Pagesos confirms damage to both stone fruit and pome fruit productions.
In the farms hit by the storm, the minimum damage detected are marks on the skin of the fruit. When the ice impacts with more force, the piece can be broken or lose commercial value, an effect that the sector considers a given in part of the affected farms.
Compared to the more localized storms of previous weeks, Tuesday's hailstorm left its mark in multiple municipalities of the Lleida plain and the Franja de Ponent. The scope of the episode leads the sector to consider damage in hundreds of hectares as certain.