Ice-coated vines (葡萄藤) stretched across hillsides around Chablis,France, as the region woke Monday to the temperature of －5℃. Fruit growers are worried that the frost will kill off largenumbers of early buds(花蕾) and disturb the whole growingseason.
The frost is particularlydisturbing after a similar phenomenon hit French vineyards last year, leadingto some 2 billion euros in losses. Scientists later found that the damaging2021frost was made more likely by climate change.
Some growers tried to warmthe vines with electrical lines, or set up special watering systems, orsprayed(喷洒) the buds withwater to protect them from frost. The water creates a thin layer of ice thatensures the buds' temperature remains around freezing point but does not dropmuch lower.
Daniel Defaix, whose vineyardhas been producing wine for 400 years and lived through many climate disasters,calls what's happening now "a very, very serious frost." He placed candleson the soil to protect about five hectares of his most valuable grapes, but hadto leave the remaining 25 hectares to face the forces of nature. At a cost of10 euros per candle, and600 candles per hectare, it was too costly to save therest of the grapes.
The 2021 April frost led towhat French government officials described as "probably the greatestagricultural disaster of the beginning of the 21st century." The patternwas similar: an intense April 6 to 8 frost after a lengthy warm period inMarch. The researchers concluded that the warming caused by humans had coaxedthe plants so that they exposed their young leaves earlier than usual, before aburst of Arctic cold reached Europe in April.