Extreme Weather in Italy
Italy has several types of extreme weather: heatwaves, droughts, flooding, severe thunderstorms, wildfires, hailstorms, waterspouts, ice storms, and the urban heat island effect. The type of extreme weather seems to be associated with particular regions and that is how I would like to address the topic in my blog this week. To orient you, here is a map of Italy: Source Northern Italy Source As you can see from the satellite image above, the northern region of Italy is characterized by the Alps, the Po Valley, and the Apennines. It is a valley flanked by 2 mountainous regions. In the mountainous regions, the weather tends to be cold because of the high elevation. Here is a snowfall map for today: Source This region experiences hailstorms . The largest hailstone was 6.3 inches in Veneto and then a few days later that record was surpassed by a 7.5 inch hailstone in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Both of these hailstorms occured in July 2024. Economically, annual losses are in the...