Influence of hail suppression on the hail trend in Serbia

Abstract

The influence of hail suppression by silver iodide seeding on the trend in the number of hail days (hail trend) in the Republic of Serbia was studied in three cases: (1) in Vojvodina region, Northern Province of Serbia, in two periods, from 1967 to 2002 when there was no hail suppression, and from 2003 to 2009 when hail suppression was extended to the entire territory; (2) in Serbia proper (Serbia without the Provinces), in two periods, from 1967 to 1984 when hail suppression was spreading, and from 1985 to 2009 when hail suppression occurred over the entire territory; and (3) in the same period from 1967 to 2002 on the two adjacent territories of Vojvodina and Serbia without the Provinces, where no hail suppression occurred in the first and hail suppression did occur in the second. The hail trend in Serbia was calculated on the basis of all observed data from all synoptic and climatological stations for the period 1967 to 2009. The results associate hail suppression with the stagnation of the hail trend rather than its decrease, and show that hail suppression did not have statistically unique influence on the hail trend.