The Day of the Dead, in much of Puglia, will be spent far from the tombs. In Trani, Barletta, Lecce and Brindisi the mayors have closed the schools and, in several cases, also the cemeteries, which means commemorations postponed, if not completely cancelled. The origin of the ordinances is the orange alert that the Civil Protection has issued for today, Monday 2 November, in Puglia and Basilicata.
The regions on alert
According to the press release from the Department of Civil Protection, a depression that descended from the Balkans deepens in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea and brings a marked worsening to the middle Adriatic and a large part of the South. The orange concerns the meteorological-hydrogeological risk in Puglia and Basilicata, while in Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Calabria and Sicily the alert is yellow. The individual areas affected are indicated in the national criticality bulletin. Showers and thunderstorms, including strong ones, are expected, with local hail and frequent electrical activity. In Basilicata and on the eastern slopes of the Abruzzo and Molise Apennines the rains could persist for a long time. On the wind front, gale-force currents from the north hit Lazio, Campania and Sicily, with strong gale-force gusts in the south of the island, before rotating from the east and reaching Basilicata and Puglia. In Puglia the regional alert message, in force from 6am, covers hydrogeological risk, thunderstorms and wind: the text predicts heavy rainfall in the internal areas of central Puglia and a possible rise of the Lato river.
Tomorrow there will be a break, Thursday we’ll start again: what week will it be?
For Tuesday 3rd the Civil Protection surveillance bulletin indicates isolated to scattered rainfall, moderate at best, between Puglia, Basilicata, eastern Campania, southern Calabria and Tyrrhenian Sicily. The wind should drop in the afternoon and the seas should return calmer, with temperatures rising in Lazio, Campania, Calabria and Sicily. The break, apparently, won’t last long. A new unstable impulse is expected for Thursday 5th, with a low depression to the west of the Peninsula and 30-40 millimeters of rain in 24 hours between southern Calabria and Sicily.
The Air Force trend, issued on October 30, confirms a cold week: until November 8, temperatures will remain below average throughout the country, especially along the Apennines. Rainfall is expected to exceed normal levels in Sicily, on the coasts of Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia and on the Ionian coasts of Basilicata and Calabria. In the North, in the central Tyrrhenian regions and in Campania it will rain less than usual. For a little warmth we will have to wait until the following week, when the cold air arriving from the east should give way to milder westerly currents.
