On days traditionally associated withIndian summerthis year they are actually in a large part of Italy temperatures dropped with the arrival of the first winter cold, a drop in temperature that will remain on the Peninsula until Friday 15 November. The reason is the descent of two “cold drops” from high latitudes, that is, two closed pockets of cold area at high altitudes detaching from larger low-pressure regions. The first is currently located above the France and is touching the Italian North-West where the first snow fell, while the second is over Romania and is heading towards Russia. The fact that Italy is at the moment squeezed between these two cold drops it is the reason for the decrease in temperatures on the Peninsula.
Since yesterday 11 November the Western Alps have seen the first snowfalls, especially in Piedmont and Val d’Aosta: although some media are talking about «snow warning»we are actually talking about accumulations on 10-15 centimeters above 1000-1200 meters above sea level, certainly not enough to speak of “alert”. Indeed, we can actually say that this year the snow is late: after all the snow season is starting later and later both in the Alps and in the Apennines (where the first snows are now seen more and more often in January). Indeed, at the moment there is doubt whether the ski resorts will be able to accommodate the traditional influx of tourists expected for the Immaculate Conception weekend.
In the meantime, a wave of bad weather is hitting the major islands, with heavy rains in eastern Sicily (up to 150 millimeters in 48 hours on the Ionian side) and rainfall also in central-southern Sardinia. The Civil Protection has issued a warning for today 12 Novemberorange weather alert for almost the entire island and red alert for the Catanese area, where they could also fall 200-300 millimeters of rain in the next 48 hours.
Another typical “tic” of the media when there is a sudden drop in temperature is to talk about “frost wave”when in reality what is happening is substantial alignment of temperatures with the averages of the periodwith minimums around 6 °C in Northern Italy. In fact, let us remember that until recent days the temperatures in Italy have been well above average and indeed so far we have had a decidedly mild November (up to 15 °C in the Po Valley and up to 24 °C in Sicily). Furthermore we must consider that in the face of a decrease in air temperatures the Mediterranean remains very warmwith temperatures up to 3.5°C above average.
