Hailstorms and problems in the countryside. Damage to crops throughout the country, from Piedmont to Puglia
Photo Ansa
More rain all over Italy, alternating with short periods of clear skies and higher temperatures, risk of hailstorms and bad weather alerts in Emilia Romagna and Umbria: May 2023 is anomalous, with perturbations that according to meteorologists should continue for next 15 days and a new cyclone arriving on Monday. More than rain and hail, the real anomaly this May is the absence of the anticyclone. The trend indicates the possibility of remaining without an African anticyclone at least until the end of the month and by Monday a Tunisian cyclone will begin to move north, initially bringing heavy downpours to Sicily and then to the rest of the south and centre. It is a cyclone characterized by very low pressure and capable of bringing extreme bad weather with storms and stormy winds. The Weather forecast.
Disturbed May, and the anticyclone is not seen on the horizon
That it rains in May is not in itself anomalous, says climatologist Bernardo Gozzini, director of the Lamma Consortium, which brings together the Tuscany Region and the National Research Council (Cnr). “In Italy the rainiest periods are generally late spring and early autumn, a normal situation in transitional seasons, with continuous changes in the weather, between disturbed transitions and sunny days with above-average temperatures”. However, this May is very dynamic and disturbed and the anticyclone is not on the horizon. It is not an exceptional period per se, but exceptional events can be triggered by the contact of warm and cold air masses.
Red alert in Emilia Romagna
Hence the alerts that have already been triggered, such as those in Emilia Romagna, red in the Bologna plain and hills and in the lower Romagna hills and plains, orange for hydraulic and hydrogeological criticality in the Romagna mountains and hills and for hydraulic criticality on the Romagna coast and in the plain Ferrarese. In Bologna, the Ravone underground channel continues to worry, which had already flooded in recent weeks and in the whole region the river banks are observed to be special. In Umbria there is a yellow alert for thunderstorms, expected in every sector of the region. In Liguria, the storm made an operating room in La Spezia unusable.
Finally, storms and hail are causing damage to crops throughout the country, from Piedmont to Puglia, notes Coldiretti. The crops of fruit, vegetables, sunflowers, barley and wheat, up to the olive trees and vineyards of Chianti are at risk.