Southern Region Faces Heatwave, Northern Region Hit by Tennis Ball-Sized Hail... Italy Struggles with Weather Anomalies

Hail up to 10cm in Diameter Falls Causing Widespread Damage
Heatwave Continues with Southern Region's Highest Temperature Reaching 47°C Next Week

Large hailstones measuring 10 cm in diameter poured down in Italy, which is suffering from extreme heatwaves in the central and southern regions, causing various damages.

According to the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on the 21st (local time), hail fell in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto from the evening of the previous day until the morning of the 21st. The hail that fell that day had a maximum diameter of 7 to 8 cm, larger than tennis balls. As a result, the windows of hundreds of parked cars were cracked, and many cars had shattered glass. In addition, damages to houses, solar panels, and crops were reported continuously.

On the 21st (local time), hail and storm damage in northern Italy
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In Lombardy, significant damage occurred not only in the capital Milan but also in Monza, Como, Varese, and Lecco, and a tornado even occurred in the northeastern part of Milan. Due to this, 110 emergency reports were received about strong winds, heavy rain causing road flooding, and fallen trees.

Earlier, on the night of the 19th, a storm with hailstones up to 10 cm in diameter struck the northeastern Veneto region, injuring more than 100 people. Luca Zaia, governor of Veneto, stated on his social media on the 19th, "Severe bad weather hit the Dolomites area of Veneto, causing considerable damage," and "I hereby declare a regional state of emergency." Most of the injured Veneto residents were hurt either by broken glass caused by hail or by slipping and falling.

Meanwhile, extreme heat exceeding 40 degrees Celsius continues in the central and southern regions.

The temperature in Rome, the capital in the central region, reached 41.8 degrees on the 18th, breaking the all-time high temperature record, and the temperature in Calabria at 8:30 a.m. the previous day was 38 degrees.

The Italian Meteorological Agency forecasted that hail would fall again in the northern regions until the evening of the 22nd. It also predicted that the heatwave in the central and southern regions would continue into next week, with the highest temperature in the southern regions expected to exceed 47 degrees on the 24th.

Regarding this, Silvana Di Sabatino, an astronomy professor at the University of Bologna, explained, "Italy is divided in two," saying, "The north is struggling with heavy rain and hail, while the south is suffering from heatwaves." She added, "Severe heat and intense storms are two sides of the same coin; when the heatwave is strong, the following storms also become stronger," and said, "The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly evident."

According to a study published on the 10th in the scientific journal Nature Medicine by an international research team led by Dr. Joan Ballester of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGLOBAL) in Spain, more than 61,000 people died from heatwaves in Europe last summer, of which about 30% were elderly Italians.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.