While Southern Italy suffers from massive fires and African temperatures, North region is being hit by strong storms.
Hail the size of tennis balls forced the closure of a highway in northern Italy on Tuesday, damaging dozens of cars and injuring drivers.
An extreme example of a climate phenomenon that has intensified its severity, according to the Chamber of Agriculture in recent years.
Coldiretti said that “in Italy we are facing the consequences of climate change, with a tendency towards tropical climates and the proliferation of extreme events”, which include sudden, violent thunderstorms, heavy rain, and rapid changes from clear skies to thunderstorms.
Coldiretti estimates that climate change events, such as floods and landslides, have caused 14 billion euros (R$91 billion) in losses to agricultural production, buildings and infrastructure.
Videos of a severe hail storm near the city of Modena on Monday showed cars with broken windows on a highway as affected drivers and passengers tracked the damage.
Although hail is a common summer phenomenon in the Po River Valley, meteorologist Luca Lombroso told the newspaper Il Resto di Carlino, from Bologna, that the intensity and frequency of storms this year were “unusual”.
Based on its analysis, Coldiretti said, storms are occurring at a rate of 11 per day this summer, for a total of 386 this year. Until six years ago, there were a few dozen per year, but 92 were registered in 2018 and 198 in 2019.
Hailstorms can destroy fields and orchards. Coldiretti attributes the 40% drop in peach and apricot yields and the 50% drop in nectarines to “this crazy weather.”
Read also
FOLLOW-US
