Damaging Tornado Touches Down in Italy
On Tuesday, the 30th of July a strong tornado touched down in the northern part of Italy in the city of Milan. The storm which was associated with the same upper level low as talked about in last week’s EIWN, as well as a very potent shortwave nearby, was fed by very moist air coming straight from the Mediterranean Sea. The conditions were favorable for tornadoes with low cloud bases and a favorable shear profile.
The tornado, rated an EF-2 (winds of 178-217km/h) on the Enhanced Fujita scale, touched down in the industrial part of Milan, called Grezzago. It quickly picked up lots of debris; easily ripped off roofs, snapped trees and even picked up vehicles. One lucky resident caught in the tornado remembers her car being lifted into the air and thrown about 10 meters, she was uninjured. Thankfully, no fatalities came from this tornado, though 15 people were found to have injuries caused by the twister. There easily could have been more injuries, such as the person who was filming this video, had the windows not held up.
This is not the first serious tornado Italy has seen this year, back in the beginning of May, a strong EF-3 tornado touched down in the central part of Italy, caused quite a bit of damage as well as injured 20 people. Italy will get a break this weekend as no severe weather outbreaks are expected.
