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WEATHER

Italy issues storm alert for central and southern regions as heatwave breaks

Many parts of southern and central Italy were on alert for thunderstorms, hail and high winds on Wednesday evening as the heatwave continued to break.

Published: 10 August 2022 15:54 CEST
Italy issues storm alert for central and southern regions as heatwave breaks
More bad weather is forecast in the Lazio region around Rome before the return of hot weather later this week. Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Italy’s civil protection department issued a bad-weather alert for parts of Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Molise and Sicily as thunderstorms followed days of sticky heat.

While many welcomed the prospect of rain in southern areas after months of extremely hot and dry conditions, the weather has turned from one extreme to the other.

READ ALSO: Italy reports a surge in deaths this summer due to extreme heat

Torrential rain has already caused mudslides and severe damage in Campania, near Avellino south of Naples, while two people drowned in a flooded canal in the northern city of Padua, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

Further storms are forecast across the country this week before another heatwave begins.

There have so far been 1,140 ‘extreme weather events’ in Italy this summer, farmers’ association Coldiretti said on Wednesday.

READ ALSO: Will summer 2022 be Italy’s hottest ever?

Along with much of the rest of mainland Europe, Italy has been battered by a series of heatwaves this summer that have fuelled forest fires and drained rivers.

The Po Valley in the north of the Italy, one of country’s most important agricultural areas, is currently experiencing its worst drought in 70 years,

While it’s not yet known if 2022 will be the hottest summer on record, it is on course to be the driest, meteorologists said.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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