As some frost has been forecast, fruit growers in the Wachau and in Burgenland are anxious about their harvest. If the frost reaches -4 degrees Celsius and lasts for two or three nights, the apricot harvest could face total failure. "Currently, the forecasts are looking a bit better, but we have to wait and see if and how much the predicted low temperatures materialize," says Mario Winkler from the Austrian Hail Insurance to the newspaper Die Presse. "We have been observing the problem of early blossoming and late frosts for a few years now," he adds.
"Due to the mild weather in recent weeks and the vegetation starting more than ten days earlier in some cases, the apricot blossom is particularly at risk," also confirms Holger Starke, head of the "Meteorology and Geoinformation" department at the Austrian Hail Insurance.
For more information: www.hagel.at