The impact of hail storms on the agricultural economy of Cyprus and their characteristics

Abstract. The contemporary economy of Cyprus is mostly based on services; agriculture was by tradition a strong contributor to the economy of the island, but nowadays its contribution is rather limited. At all times, the agricultural economy suffers from the consequences of weather phenomena such as hail, frost, drought, dust storms, etc. The present study focuses on the impact of hail to the agricultural economy, since hailstorms can straightforwardly destroy crops and plantations. Any knowledge concerning hail is useful for the improved understanding of the underlying thermodynamic and dynamic mechanisms and physical processes associated with its formation. For the investigation of hail as a natural hazard and its contribution to the insurance compensations paid to farmers, hail events and their associated synoptic and dynamic conditions were studied. Hail events were clustered into a "frontal instability hail events" and a "thermal instability hail events" clusters. The spatial distribution of the frequency of hail events was also determined in order to identify geographical areas that are more often hit by hail storms.