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WEATHER

Cold snap: Italy shivers as winter rushes in

Temperatures across Italy plummeted over the weekend as a dramatic change in the weather brought wind, rain and even snow in some low-lying areas.

Cold snap: Italy shivers as winter rushes in
Wintry weather has arrived in Italy and is here to stay. Photo: YouReporter.it

By Sunday the northern Alps were covered by the first winter snows, which reached altitudes as low as 400 meters above sea level in the coastal province of Liguria.

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In the mountainous central region of Abruzzo the 3,000-meter Gran Sasso peak also received its first dusting of the winter, which was immortalized by one Twitter user.

 
The arrival of the first winter snow to Italy's mountainous areas will come as a relief to worried workers at Italy's ski resorts. Up until late last week record temperatures had been recorded for November, with last year's snow continuing to melt above 2,500 meters.

But it wasn't just those in the mountains who were feeling the pinch. Strong winds have been creating rough seas in the north easterly Adriatic coast, where members of the public have filmed dramatic waves breaching the sea walls near Ancona.
 

And meteorologists are predicting no end to the wintry weather anytime soon. A Mediterranean cyclone is set to arrive on Thursday, causing widespread bad weather.

By the end of the week, snow will cover even the low-lying plains of Abruzzo, which sit at just 200 meters above sea level. Experts are blaming the turbulent weather on this year's record strength El Niño.

Away from the mountains, night-time temperatures are set to drop as low as zero in the northern cities of Milan and Turin, while the temperature in Rome will remain firmly in single digits.
 

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WEATHER

Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

Blizzards in Denmark this week have resulted in the greatest depth of snow measured in the country for 13 years.

Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

A half-metre of snow, measured at Hald near East Jutland town Randers, is the deepest to have occurred in Denmark since January 2011, national meteorological agency DMI said.

The measurement was taken by the weather agency at 8am on Thursday.

Around 20-30 centimetres of snow was on the ground across most of northern and eastern Jutland by Thursday, as blizzards peaked resulting in significant disruptions to traffic and transport.

A much greater volume of snow fell in 2011, however, when over 100 centimetres fell on Baltic Sea island Bornholm during a post-Christmas blizzard, which saw as much as 135 centimetres on Bornholm at the end of December 2010.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s January storms could be fourth extreme weather event in three months

With snowfall at its heaviest for over a decade, Wednesday saw a new rainfall record. The 59 millimetres which fell at Svendborg on the island of Funen was the most for a January day in Denmark since 1886. Some 9 weather stations across Funen and Bornholm measured over 50cm of rain.

DMI said that the severe weather now looks to have peaked.

“We do not expect any more weather records to be set in the next 24 hours. But we are looking at some very cold upcoming days,” DMI meteorologist and press spokesperson Herdis Damberg told news wire Ritzau.

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