The weekend of March 14th and 15th will be marked by a strong Atlantic disturbance directed towards the central Mediterranean. The first signs will arrive already on Friday evening, when the clouds will begin to thicken in the far North West, anticipating a clear worsening of the weather.
From the early hours of Saturday the disturbed front will come into its own, bringing widespread rainfall and intense phenomena especially between Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Liguria and Lombardy. Precipitation will gradually extend to the rest of the North, while the Center and much of the South will initially remain more sheltered.
Heavy rain and snow in the Alps
The heart of the bad weather will affect the Alpine areas and the Po Valley north of the Po, where the phenomena may be persistent. In particular, in the western Ligurian hinterland, accumulations of up to 100-120 millimeters of rain are expected in 24 hours, with even higher local peaks.
Abundant snow will return to the mountains in the mountains, especially in the western Alps. The snowfall limit will initially be between 1200 and 1400 metres, but as the hours pass it will tend to drop below 1000 metres, in some cases reaching the valley floor between Valle d’Aosta and Verbano.
Sunday with residual bad weather and new showers in the South
During the night between Saturday and Sunday the most intense phase of precipitation will be recorded, with heavy snowfalls in the Piedmont and Aosta Valley Alps. In some areas the flakes may reach up to 600-800 meters above sea level, with the possibility of snow or mixed rain also in some valleys in the Turin and Cuneo areas.
During Sunday the bad weather will gradually begin to ease in the North, but residual instability will remain with further snowfalls in the mountains and scattered showers between Lombardy and Triveneto. In the meantime, the depression vortex will slide towards the lower Tyrrhenian Sea, influencing above all the major islands and the far South.
Record snowfall and risk of avalanches
This episode could become one of the most significant snow events of the season for some Alpine areas. Above 2000 meters of altitude, the accumulations expected between Saturday and Sunday are particularly significant: up to 150 centimeters of new snow in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola area, around 120 centimeters in the eastern Aosta Valley and between 80 and 100 centimeters in the upper Canavese area.
More moderate snowfall will also affect the Maritime, Cottian and Ligurian Alps, with accumulations of between 30 and 50 centimetres. However, such abundant quantities of new snow will lead to a significant increase in the risk of avalanches, especially after the easing of precipitation expected in the second part of Sunday.
In the rest of the country the weekend will be decidedly calmer: Central and part of the South will see large clearings, except for some showers in Sicily, Calabria and Puglia and a worsening in Sardinia between Saturday evening and Sunday. An Italy therefore divided in two, with the North struggling with the return of winter and the rest of the Peninsula under more variable but generally milder skies.
You might also be interested in:
