Trajectories of Hail Cells with Potential of Generating Hailstorms in Moldova in 2016-2017

Abstract

Abstract Hail is one of the most damaging weather phenomena. Inflicted damage affects mostly agriculture, but also human settlements. The effects produced are mainly due to the size of the hailstones and the amount of fallen ice and, of course, to the vulnerability of the territory in which it occurs. The average number of hail days in Moldova increases from less than 1 day / year in the Barlad Plateau to over 6 days a year on the high mountain peaks. Studies at national or regional level in Romania have not addressed the problem of trajectories of hail cells with potential of generating hailstorms. In addition to literature references, weather data from the ground, synoptic maps and satellite images for the warm seasons of the two years have been used. In the two observation seasons (15 April-15 October) of the years 2016 and 2018 for the analyzed territory, a number of days with similar convective cells were observed, 51, respectively 53. The direction of southwest movement (33%) dominated, followed by the northwest direction.