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EASTER

WEATHER: Italy braced for wet and chilly Easter weekend

Easter holidays in Italy have been marked by inclement weather over the past couple of years, and the trend looks set to continue this weekend. Here are the latest forecasts.

Published: 6 April 2023 17:28 CEST
Tourists holding umbrellas as rain pours in Italy
Italy's 'wet Easter' trend looks set to continue this year as many regions are expected to see rain and below-average temperatures over the long weekend. Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP

With the long weekend now just around the corner, forecasts appear to once again confirm the ‘wet Easter’ trend of recent years as many Italian regions are expected to see rain and below-average temperatures over the holidays. 

According to the latest reports, cold air currents from northern Europe will reach the country on Friday, bringing moderate showers and daytime temperatures between 13C and 16C to the north-west of the boot and Tuscany. 

The cold air front will move down along the peninsula on Saturday, when all central regions along with Campania, Puglia and Basilicata will see localised showers of medium intensity, with daytime temperatures dropping as low as 10C in some areas.

Conditions should be good in the north, though Veneto and Friuli might register some showers in the afternoon. 

The situation is currently expected to worsen on Easter Sunday, with all central and southern regions forecast to see some rain during the day. Rainstorms might be particularly intense in Calabria and Campania, with some areas potentially affected by hailstorms, especially in the afternoon.

READ ALSO: What will Italian roads look like over Easter weekend?

Temperatures will remain below average across the entire country, with thermometers in several regions of the boot expected to drop below the 10C mark at night. 

Weather conditions should improve on Easter Monday (Pasquetta), though some isolated rain showers might persist in Calabria, Puglia, Basilicata and eastern Sicily. 

The rest of the country will enjoy clear skies on the day, but temperatures around the peninsula will largely remain below season averages, with Bolzano alone expected to record 20C or more on the day.

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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: ‘Exceptional’ Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said on Monday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Published: 8 April 2024 14:15 CEST
IN PICTURES: 'Exceptional' Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe in recent days.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

This latest episode has caused air quality to deteriorate in several countries, Copernicus said.

The European Union’s safe threshold for concentrations of PM10 — coarser particles like sand and dust that that can irritate the nose and throat — has already been exceeded in some locations.

A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Switzerland. – An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent’s climate monitor said, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The worst affected was the Iberian Peninsula in Spain but lesser air pollution spikes were also recorded in parts of Switzerland, France and Germany.

READ ALSO:

Local authorities in southeastern and southern France announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday.

They advised residents to avoid intense physical activity, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The dust outbreak was expected to reach Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia before ending on Tuesday with a shift in weather patterns, Copernicus said.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of kilometres (miles), carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.

The Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa saw just 12 days within a 90-day period from December to February where skies were free of Saharan dust, the local weather agency Aemet had reported.

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