Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CLIMATE CRISIS

Weather: Central and southern Italy on storm alert as temperatures drop

Many parts of Italy were on alert for severe storms on Thursday, with temperatures set to fall and more bad weather predicted across the country over the weekend.

Published: 1 September 2022 08:51 CEST
Weather: Central and southern Italy on storm alert as temperatures drop
Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP

Temperatures are expected to fall by up to eight degrees in many parts of central and southern Italy as September begins with the weather taking a turn for the worse.

Violent thunderstorms will spread south from Emilia-Romagna on Thursday, the national civil protection department said.

Storms are forecast to hit early on Thursday in the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise and Campania, and then spread to Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata, and northeastern Sicily.

There will be “intense downpours, frequent electrical activity, hailstorms and strong gusts of wind”, the department said.

“There will be very intense localised weather phenomena, especially along coastal areas,” it predicted.

Thunderstorms and colder temperatures are then expected in the centre-north of Italy over the weekend, according to forecasts from weather website Il Meteo.

Unstable weather is expected across the country for the next few days, as cold air masses move in from the Atlantic while the seas remain warm, meteorologists said.

Emergency services are bracing for further flooding and storm damage less than two weeks after a wave of extreme weather swept across northern parts of the country.

Experts say climate change is boosting the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, floods, droughts and wildfires.

READ ALSO: Europe facing record year for wildfire destruction: EU

Italian environmental group Legambiente said in mid-August the number of such extreme weather events has surged in Italy, with 132 in the last six months alone – the highest average figure in the last decade.

“Italy is ever more subject to extreme climate events” because of global heating caused by human activity, the group said.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

SHOW COMMENTS