A hailstorm left towns and villages in Malta and Gozo looking like the perfect white Christmas postcard yesterday morning but several farmers woke up worried about the effect on their produce.

The islands were hit by thunderstorms and hailstorms on Monday night and early yesterday with temperatures plummeting to 4.8˚C. Rainfall over 24 hours amounted to 44.6mm, with the heaviest recorded in Gozo.

While some farmers welcomed the rain and wished for more, all listed the damaging effects hailstones had on farmed fields.

“In Gozo, we woke up to find everywhere covered in white,” Joe Spiteri, of Mena Estates Gozo, said. “Hail can be very damaging at this time of year, especially for strawberries and oranges. It is like stone raining from the sky.” At least, the stones were not that big this year, he added.

Farmers told Times of Malta hail was outright damaging.

“It destroys things: the larger the hailstones, the worse the damage, especially if it hails for more than 15 minutes,” Joe Galea, president of Rural Cooperative in Manikata, said.

On the other hand, he said, the cold spell was actually beneficial, particularly for trees.

“Vines, peach and citrus trees need to sleep in winter. It is unhealthy when they do not sleep as they keep shedding leaves. Cold in winter is what trees want,” Mr Galea said.

Rain is also welcome. “If it rains more it will be even better. We have to think ahead; the more the earth absorbs water, the better it will be for summer,” he said.

We call it a xita bit-temp... rain with tempo

Clement Azzopardi, who has farmland in the Dingli area, said: “We call it a xita bit-temp... rain with ‘tempo’, as in music.”

“It is an ideal kind of rain. It can keep going for days on end like this. It will never do any damage.”

On the other hand, silġ (hail) was “only good for ice skaters”, he said. Large hailstones could damage cabbages, cauliflowers or marrows or else it could dent the vegetables and wet them on the inside, causing them to rot.

According to the Meteorological Office, there was still the possibility of hail and today and tomorrow are expected to be dominated by thunder and showers.

Civil Protection Department head John Rizzo said rescuers were kept busy helping drivers with stalled cars between 7am and 8.30am, particularly in Msida and Valley Road.

Qormi was free of flooding thanks to a project that was completed last month.

“Overall, the downpour was nothing out of the ordinary... The only problem will be if the wind picks up because then it’s easy for trees to be uprooted from the wet, softened earth,” Mr Rizzo said.

The Meteorological Office said the weather would be affected by two depressions, generating unstable and windy conditions over the next few days. The cold weather affecting Europe reached Malta on Sunday night, significantly lowering temperatures. Tonight, the maximum temperature is expected to drop to 4˚C.

The cooler weather has seen a spike in gas cylinder sales, according to Liquigas. “Up till mid-December, sales were quiet but they picked up this week when temperatures dipped,” a spokesman said.

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