Hail

hail, frozen raindrops or ice bodies built up by accretion, typically falling in thunderstorms. To the normal ill effects of heavy summer rainfall is added direct physical damage to the vines and fruit. That to the vines ranges from ripping and stripping of the leaves to bruising and breaking of the young stems: effects which can carry over to the following season or even much longer. Damage to young bunches may destroy or at best reduce the crop, although compensatory growth of the remaining berries may minimize the effects on final yield. Hail damage while berries are ripening, on the other hand, is invariably a disaster. Smashed berries are prey to rot and ferment on the vine, rendering even undamaged parts of the bunches unusable. burgundy is particularly and apparently increasingly prone to hail damage, as is Mendoza in argentina. Hail is said to cost French agriculture more than half a billion euros a year.