EFFECTS IN ICELAND:THE LAST day of winter is usually a cause of celebration for Icelandic farmers, but not this time around.
With a spewing volcano destroying pasture and forcing a desperate farmer to send some of his livestock to the abattoir, the blanket of volcanic ash will cast a long shadow upon the arrival of summer.
Almost a week into the disaster, farmers living near the Eyjafjallajökull volcano are growing increasingly pessimistic about their prospects, with some predicting that winds will maintain the spread of ash throughout the summer.
The intensive cleaning effort is taking its toll on the communities.
"I will last throughout June. Not much longer," said Kristinn Stefansson, who farms at Raufarfell, close to the volcano, about the struggle against the forces of nature in an interview with Morgunbladid.
Mr Stefansson described the exhaustion of working away from his family while the farm was covered by a downpour of volcanic ash that seemed to penetrate any attempts of blockage.
Earlier on Monday, Mr Stefansson had sent 13 of his 45 cattle to the abattoir, including pregnant cows, in order to make the task of looking after the remaining livestock more manageable.
Admitting that sadness was taking hold, Mr Stefansson said he did not bear letting his family or himself confront the dire situation in the summer, before adding on a positive note that help from volunteers was expected.
In the adjacent farmlands, the will to defeat the odds was giving way to a sombre realisation.
Meanwhile, the noise from the ferocious crater was akin to the roar of an over-flying jet, according to Vilhjalmur Eyjolfsson, a farmer at Hnausum.
The scale of the destruction is such that Runolfur Sigursveinsson, a local agricultural consultant, expressed fears that some of the farms would have to be deserted due to the ruining of pasture.
Gudni Thorvaldsson, a farmer at Raufarfell II, was blunt in his assessment about the outlook, referring to the uncertainty about the future prospects of farming in the area most seriously affected.
The expected aid from unaffected farms is a testament of how the disaster has brought the local communities together, up against the greatest destruction of farmlands in living memory.
Despite the reduction in the size of the eruption column, scientists caution against assumptions that the worst is over.
According to Benedikt Ofeigsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, latest measurements indicate that the pressure in the crater has receded, as the molten rock has been brought to the surface.
However, Mr Ofeigsson warned that the eruption might continue, pointing to the difficulty in predicting the development of the disaster.
Considering its proximity to the area, geophysicists continue to monitor the much-feared volcano Katla near Eyjafjallajökull.
Asked about the monitoring, Mr Ofeigsson stressed that measurements did not indicate any developments near Katla. Should Katla erupt, the consequences are likely to greatly exceed the current disaster as the volcano is regarded as much more powerful than the current eruption side of Eyjafjallajökull.
The impact on air travel in Europe could probably be substantially greater and longer lasting.
Although no structures apart from roads and bridges have been destroyed by the eruption, the disruption caused to tourism and fishery exports is beginning to hurt the tiny €8.8 billion economy.