Hail over the past week along the length of Washington state in the US north-west has had a significant, although sporadic effect on apple crops.
According to the Washington Apple Commission, some individual growers have experienced severe impact to their production, although effects are typically patchy.
"There was some hail, however the impact has very much been a mosaic effect, that is to say not deep and widespread, rather scattered and piecemeal," said Tracy King, export director at the commission. "The overall impact on the crop in the state is therefore likely to be small: probably in single digit percentages."
Damage could potentially have been far worse as up until a month ago, fruit development was running well ahead of schedule.
"We had warm weather in April, and it looked like harvesting would be early," explained King. "But throughout the bulk of May, the weather has been cooler, and that has pushed things back again. If we have an average summer now, then we still may be slightly early in harvesting, but not as early as looked likely in April."
He also reported a large crop on the trees. "Although a little hail may have a large impact on production for individual growers, at this stage it will not have a big impact on the overall crop," said King.
The reason for the large crop is that pollination conditions have been very good. "Also many trees are alternate bearing and this year looks like a big year," he concluded.
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