The geographical location and diverse terrain of Bulgaria characterise it as one of the most hail-stormy countries in Europe.
Hail is a weather phenomenon, detrimental to the agricultural crops.
The Bulgarian hail suppression system was set up in 1968 as a structure of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Hail Suppression Agency now protects an area of 17 000 sq. km in the regions where hail damages have turned out to be the strongest: the districts of Vidin, Montana, Vratsa, Pleven, Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Sliven.
The Agency carries out its activities by monitoring the weather conditions using MRL5-IRIS Doppler radars and cloud seeding.
Real time meteorological radar information is transferred to the National Civil Protection Service and the Air Force.
Weather information
• Sliven (Staro selo)
• Plovdiv (Golyam Chardak)
• Plovdiv (Popovitsa)
• Montana (Dolno Tserovene)
• Sofia (Yarlovo)
Weather information depending on the radar reflectivity |
|
|---|---|
5 – 15 dBZ |
Cloud boundary |
15 – 25 dBZ |
Non-precipitating clouds |
25 – 30 dBZ |
Light rain |
30 – 40 dBZ |
Light to moderate rain |
40 – 45 dBZ |
Moderate rain and probability of lightning |
45 – 50 dBZ |
Moderate to heavy rain and lightning |
50 – 55 dBZ |
Heavy rain, lightning and probability of graupel |
55 – 60 dBZ |
Very heavy rain, lightning and probability of hail |
60 – 65 dBZ |
Very heavy rain, lightning and probability of severe hail |
> 65 dBZ |
Very heavy to extremely heavy rain, lightning, severe hail |