Severe weather hits SE Europe, leaving at least 5 people dead

Severe weather affecting southeastern Europe over the past couple of days resulted in a significant drop in temperatures, strong winds, hail and high elevation snow, very heavy rain, floods, landslides, and dozens of waterspouts, of which some turned into damaging tornadoes. At least 5 people were killed in Italy, the worst affected country.

In Italy, where at least 5 people lost their lives, severe storms started on Thursday, September 24. By September 25, 7 regions were on Orange alert — Lombardy, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata, and Sardinia.

Across the country, at least three landfalling waterspouts were reported on September 26 — in Genoa, Salerno, and Rosignano.

In the city of Salerno, south of Napoli, locals recorded a giant waterspout coming ashore, uprooting trees and causing damage to vehicles and buildings.

At least 8 people were injured after a tornado hit Rosignano, Toskana:

Numerous waterspouts were spotted over the northern Adriatic Sea, from northern Italy to Umag, Pula, and Rijeka, Croatia, with some of them truly impressive.

"Clear air mass within the much colder air aloft has provided great observing conditions, so waterspouts were nicely visible even at a large distance," Severe Weather Europe meteorologists said.

"The ongoing pattern over Europe reveals an impressive upper-level cold-core low, centered over central Europe, the Alps, and the northern Mediterranean. The pattern is resulting in unsettled weather conditions over the region, producing severe storms with flooding and waterspouts over the still very warm seas."

Severe weather is expected to continue on September 28, with much of Italy under Orange and Yellow alerts, as well as Hungary, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, and Greece.

​Image credit: Meteoalarm

Featured image credit: EUMETSAT/Meteoalarm-11. Acquired at 09:15 UTC on September 26, 2020