The weather will worsen significantly in the next few days
Heavy rain and lots of snow are about to return to Italy due to a real Polar Cyclone. The season seems to be moving towards a context that is a little more in keeping with the calendar, after a prolonged period characterized by an unusually mild climate and an almost static atmosphere. It will be an intense disturbance that will mark a turning point in the climate of our country, with its arrival scheduled for Thursday 22 February, starting from the northern regions.
FORECASTS
Starting from the morning of Thursday 22 February we will witness a clear change in atmospheric conditions: from the first light of the morning the sky will be full of clouds, with the first rainfall destined to affect the Alps and Pre-Alps, Liguria and various areas of the Triveneto . It will also be important to pay attention to the snow, expected on the Alpine mountains, initially at relatively medium altitudes, between 1300 and 1400 metres, due to temperatures that are still very mild compared to the seasonal norm.
During the afternoon and evening, bad weather will continue to rage more or less over the same regions, with snowfalls that will tend to intensify and extend to increasingly lower altitudes, reaching an average of 1000 metres.
Friday 23 February promises to be the most critical of the week, with a marked worsening of weather conditions, especially in the north-eastern regions and with a rapid extension of the bad weather also to the central Tyrrhenian regions and the respective Apennine segments.
In detail, heavy rains await us in Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, as well as in Tuscany, Lazio, Umbria and at the end of the day also in Campania.
It will also be necessary to carefully monitor snowfall, which is expected to be particularly intense in the central and eastern Alpine mountains, at altitudes between 900 and 1000 metres, locally at lower altitudes towards the late afternoon and evening.
TREND
At the moment, the possibilities of an improvement in the weather are limited, as the entire weekend will also be characterized by a persistent cyclonic circulation, ready to maintain generally unstable weather over a large part of the country.
Lorenzo Tedici, meteorologist for the website www.iLMeteo.it, spoke on these issues, asking him for clarification on the worsening expected in the coming days.
The arrival of a decidedly ‘less warm’ air mass compared to the last 10 days, from distant polar extraction, is confirmed: from Thursday 22 February, this crisper air will descend from Scotland towards Italy.
What will happen with the Polar Cyclone?
After a sunny and mild Wednesday, barring the last few showers in the south, Thursday will begin with some showers in the North-West quickly moving towards the Triveneto: snowfall is expected in the Alps at medium-high altitudes for February, above 1400-1500 meters.
When will the highlight of the Cyclone be?
The highlight of the Cyclone will arrive on Friday, of distant polar origin, which will push the snow level downwards with flakes also arriving on the Apennines: we will have the tail end of a winter that never happened! A flick of the tail of a ghost…
Will there be a lot of snow?
The snow will be very abundant in the central-eastern Alps, over half a meter in 24 hours! Precipitation will also reach the Center and parts of the South, starting a very unstable and windy weekend.
What weather will there be on Saturday?
Strong winds with cyclonic rotation, rain and snow are still expected in the mountains from north to south on Saturday.
What are the projections for Sunday?
On Sunday, according to the first projections to be confirmed, the bad weather will be concentrated in the south, but an occluded front will still bring phenomena also to the north in a colder context.
Conclusions?
As mentioned, we will have the tail end of a ghost, of a Winter that, beyond brief phases, did not exist: the drought in Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria and Piedmont is the signature of the ghost Winter 2023-24.
Now, at the end of the season, the Polar Cyclone will try to bring back some of the features of February, with lots of snow in the Alps and a drop in temperatures of 10°C and above all with the smog-washing rain, capable of cleaning up the polluted air.