Hail Storm Vs. NC Apple Crop, Northeast Good

A severe thunderstorm moved through eastern Henderson County, North Carolina Wednesday afternoon, destroying much of the county's apple crop. Henderson county produces 70-80% of the apple crop for the state according to a study done in 1999. This story is of interest to me because I went to school at UNC-A, just north of Henderson County, and grew up in Wilkes County, another one of the state's six main apple-producing counties. Here's a look at the storm as it moved through:

This article has a picture of the damaging hail, which looks to be quarter-sized, and says that area farmers still have 60% of the crop to harvest; one farmer estimates that he lost 80% of that. This year's crop was already down from previous years due to last year's drought, and the article has some other interesting weather-related history for the area during the past few years.

The storm's track was evident from the hail reports from storm spotters:

Zooming in on Henderson County we see reports up to 1.75" (Golf-Ball-sized):

It's rare for thunderstorms to move into the area from the northwest due to the higher terrain there, where, in Madison County this storm had its origin, as you can see on the radar below from earlier in the afternoon.

Here's video of the hail in Madison County:

[LINK NOT FOUND] The storm moved southeast through Buncombe (hail video from there) and into Henderson County shortly after 2 PM then was overtaken by a line of storms after 3 PM.

North Carolina is not one of the top U.S. apple producers; 58% come from Washington State with New York & Michigan contributing another 19%.

Globally, China is the #1 apple producer, followed by the U.S. and Turkey. Two million tons will be produced worldwide, and here in Pennsylvania and the Northeast where a 4% surplus is predicted and the apple crop is doing well. The "Weather In Your Wallet" video below explains why.