Elsewhere in Weather News: November 15th, 2014

More Flooding Hits Italy

Italy has seen its fair share of rainfall this past week, especially in the northern tier of the country including the city of Milan. Trouble started off in early November when a system originating from the Mediterranean Sea brought abnormal amounts of moisture into the region, producing heavy rainfall over a sizeable portion of Italy. This system, associated with a slow moving negatively tilted trough, dug down into southwestern Europe and triggered isolated thunderstorms and widespread rain. The system dumped copious amounts of rainfall – over 100mm fell in northern parts of Italy. With already saturated grounds from previous events in the past few weeks, this meant trouble for some villages.

Milan and surrounding areas saw the worst of the flooding. Subway systems were inundated with water, streets were flooded with over a foot of water and schools were forced to close. Two rivers in the region, the Seveso and Lambro, overflowed their banks and contributed to the flooding. The flooding is responsible for five deaths and estimated damages in excess of 100 million dollars.

Significant repairs will have to be done to this central Milan canal wall and road which collapsed due to the saturated ground below that gave way. (Source: @SimoneEneaRicco)
Significant repairs will have to be done to this central Milan canal wall and road which collapsed due to the saturated ground below that gave way. (Source: @SimoneEneaRicco)

Northern Italy will remain soggy over the weekend, with another 10-20mm expected due to the same slow moving trough which continues to linger. Throughout November Milan usually sees about 100mm of precipitation, but just half-way through they have already surpassed it.

By the beginning of next week there’s a good chance that things will start to clear up as a weak ridge builds in.

Matthieu

Matt has been a member of the AWM team since January 2012, writing the weekly feature Elsewhere in Weather News which highlights weather news from across the globe. Matt has lived in Winnipeg all his life and has been a weather enthusiast since a very young age. He is currently completing his B.Sc. in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Manitoba.

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