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WEATHER

Rain and snow forecast for parts of central-southern Italy

Four Italian regions were placed under a 'yellow' weather alert on Friday, with heavy rains and snowfall expected in parts of the Centre-South.

Published: 15 December 2023 16:05 CET
Snow was forecast for high altitude areas of central Italy on Friday.
Snow was forecast for high altitude areas of central Italy on Friday. Photo by Luca Bettini / AFP.

Italy’s Civil Protection department issued the alerts for the central-eastern regions of Abruzzo and Molise and the southern regions of Calabria and Sicily on Thursday, warning of storms and a possible flood risk.

A yellow alert is a low-level risk warning, below a moderate ‘orange’ or high ‘red’ threat, but signals a possible danger to public safety and the risk that lives could be lost in unforeseen circumstances.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What do Italy’s storm alerts mean?

The Marche, Umbria, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Campania, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily regions also faced the possibility of gale-force winds from Friday morning, the department warned.

Snow was anticipated in high-altitude areas of the Apennines mountain range in Marche, Abruzzo and Molise, as the cold front was expected to lower the snow level.

Clear skies, by contrast, were forecast for northern alpine areas of the country, as well as in central regions away from the Adriatic coast, though temperatures were expected to drop across the country.

By the end of the weekend, however, the weather was set to change dramatically as a block of high pressure from northern Europe is expected to bring a ‘thermal swing’ to the Italian peninsula from Sunday afternoon.

Temperatures could rise as high as 10C above the seasonal average in the Alps, meteorologists said.

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WEATHER

‘Exceptionally hot’ summer temperatures predicted for Italy

The latest medium-range forecasts predict temperatures several degrees above seasonal average again this summer with a series of heatwaves and an elevated risk of drought, warned Italian meteorologists on Monday.

Published: 17 June 2024 11:10 CEST
'Exceptionally hot' summer temperatures predicted for Italy

“Data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) suggests that July and August could be exceptionally hot in the Mediterranean,” climate scientist Luca Mercalli, president of the Società meteorologica italiana (Italian meteorological society) told news agency Adnkronos on Friday.

“There’s no big news from now to June 20-25th,” Mercalli says. “Storms continue in the north and it remains hot in the south.”

From July however, he predicts the beginning of “a decidedly hot phase across the whole Mediterranean.

“We should therefore have a July and also August with temperatures above average.”

The first heatwave of the summer was expected at the end of the week, with temperatures of up to 39-40 degrees forecast for Rome, Florence, and Naples, and potentially even higher temperatures in Sicily and Sardinia.

Temperatures at the start of the week were already 10 degrees above seasonal averages on Monday, said Antonio Sanò, meteorologist and founder of Italian weather website IlMeteo.it.

Mercalli cautioned that, while short-term forecasts (up to 10 days) are generally reliable, longer-range predictions come with higher uncertainty.

However, the data available so far indicates a warmer-than-average summer across Europe.

The latest updates from IlMeteo.it predict temperatures at the end of June will be about 1°C above the average in most parts of Europe. This trend is expected to continue into July and August.

Temperatures in Italy, Spain, and the Balkans will potentially be 2°C above average over summer due to the increasing influence of African anticyclones, according to forecasters from IlMeteo.

Previously, the milder Azores wave of high pressure was more dominant, IlMeteo explains, but in recent years warm air fronts from North Africa have caused more intense and prolonged heatwaves.

This was expected to lead to prolonged heatwaves with maximum temperatures exceeding 40°C in many areas.

Last summer saw record temperatures of 43°C in Rome and up to 48°C in Sicily and Sardinia. Similar conditions are expected this year, reflecting ongoing climate change.

Along with heatwaves, there is an increased risk of drought in southern regions following a dry winter and spring, IlMeteo notes.

Meanwhile, particularly in northern parts of the country, severe storms are thought increasingly likely to break the intense heatwaves due to the arrival of cooler air from Northern Europe or the Atlantic.

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