Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

STORM

Winter storm set to sweep across Sweden

A winter storm, which has already claimed two lives in Norway, is forecast to sweep across Sweden on Friday. The national weather service has issued its second-highest warning, saying snow is most likely on the cards in many parts of the country this weekend.

Published: 25 December 2015 10:51 CET
Winter storm set to sweep across Sweden
Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT

The unusually mild Christmas weather is set to come to an end on Friday, when a winter storm crosses the Norwegian border and into Sweden.

“Christmas day will be very windy, especially in the evening,” the national weather agency SMHI wrote on its website, adding winds are expected to reach a speed of 21 meters per second in the southwest.

A class 1 warning, the lowest on a scale of three, has been issued in the southwest, while a class 2 warning has been issued for the north and the mountain ranges of Härjedalen and Jämtland in the east.

“Leading into Boxing Day there will be rain coming in from the southeast,” agency spokesman Marcus Sjöstedt told news agency TT.

Sjöstedt said it will most likely snow in the south on Saturday, adding the white stuff is likely to fall also in the centre and moving up towards the north during the night to Sunday.

 In Norway, the storm is thought to have killed two people on Christmas Eve. One woman died in Oslo after being hit by a flagpole that the winds had snapped into two. On Norway’s southern coast, a man is believed to have drowned after being caught by a wave and dragged out to sea.

CLIMATE

Four dead as storms, floods and tornadoes wreak havoc across northern and central Italy

High winds, tornadoes and giant hail: extreme weather hit many parts of Italy's north and centre-north this weekend, leaving at least four holidaymakers dead and causing widespread damage. Weather alerts continue over the coming days.

Published: 31 August 2020 09:28 CEST
Four dead as storms, floods and tornadoes wreak havoc across northern and central Italy
File photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Severe weather has been reported over the weekend everywhere  from South Tyrol down to the central region of Lazio around Rome, with at least four people killed in two separate incidents, and several reported missing.

In Tuscany, two girls aged three and 14 were reportedly killed on Saturday night when a tornado reportedly uprooted a tree which hit their tent at a campsite in Marina di Massa.

Two German tourists were killed on Sunday night during severe flooding on the Brenner state road near Bolzano, South Tyrol, the Ansa news agency reports. A family car collided with a lorry, killing two of the passengers; a 45-year-old father and 67-year-old grandmother. A seven-year-old boy and his grandfather reportedly survived, while the lorry driver was unhurt. 

The vehicles had been diverted onto the local road when the motorway was closed due to storms. The motorway has now reopened on Monday, however train lines in the area remain closed.

A 38-year-old man has been reported missing in the Varese area after being swept away by a swollen river.

The city of Verona is bracing for further flooding after being hit by multiple waves of bad weather since August 23rd, with high winds and giant hailstones also causing considerable damage in the area.

Severe damage was reported across much of the Veneto region, with the Vicenza and Belluno areas also hit particularly hard. The famed ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo in Belluno suffered landslides due to strong winds and heavy rain.

In the Vicenza area of Veneto a tromba d'aria (small tornado) flattened trees, fences and road signs and damaged buildings.

The bad weather reached neighbouring Lombardy with hailstones “the size of eggs” reported in Cremona and Mantova, and heavy rain and flooding in Alessandria.

And in Bergamo, firefighters had to clear roads made impassable by severe hail.

Meanwhile in parts of the south, fire crews have been battling blazes in woods and scrubland from southern Tuscany and Marche to Sicily after a hot, dry summer. 
 
Italy's Civl Protection department continued to issue weather warnings on Monday with orange (level two) alerts in place for Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige and Lazio.
 
 
Lower-level yellow alerts were also issued for Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy and Tuscany.
 
With the wave of bad weather expected to spread south over Monday and Tuesday, yellow alerts were also issued for the regions of Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Molise, Puglia, Sicily, Tuscany and Umbria on Monday.
 

 

SHOW COMMENTS