Maribor hail busters use a Cessna airplane to seed clouds. Yesterday, the plane took off for the first time this year. It flew into a storm cell approaching from the east and into another storm cell approaching from the north.

Unlike the Slovenian Environment Agency, Darko Kralj, who leads the hail suppression project, believes that this method of suppressing hail is highly effective. Peter Škrilec, the mayor of Sveti Jurij v Slovenskih goricah, agrees with him. The municipality has been participating in the program for 10 years. The annual cost of their participation is just shy of 2,000 euros.

This year, the hail suppression project again ran into hurdles with a number of municipalities. The government contributed 56,000 euros towards the project, while local municipalities chipped in with around 90,000 euros. However, many municipalities also believe that this method of suppressing hail is ineffective, so 9 municipalities refused to sign a contract to co-fund the program.

L.C. (Ra SLO); translated by D.V.