An analysis of the violent storms of August 2002 in north‐east and central Italy

In the first fortnight of August 2002, severe flooding occurred in central Europe. Heavy and extensive precipitation caused flooding along the Rivers Elbe and Danube. The former reached the highest level in the past 500 years, causing loss of life and severe damage. This area of bad weather also affected northern and central Italy. Violent storms occurred in the north-east of Italy between 4 and 6 August 2002. During the following few days, this bad weather moved into the central northern part of the Italian peninsula, affecting Tuscany and Latium. The central part of Latium saw heavy rain, showers and damaging hailstorms on 10 August. A tornado occurred in Vallerano, 70 km north of Rome, causing the death of a man, injuries to others, and serious damage to cars and buildings. In the northern and central Italian provinces of Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, Friuli, Tuscany and Latium, this adverse weather caused damage amounting to 300 million. This excludes the loss of human life, which cannot be quantified. Between 4 and 6 August, the total amount of rain recorded at Udine-Rivolto in Friuli was 44.2 mm, an average daily precipitation of 14.7 mm. The mean daily precipitation for August at this station is 3.9 mm, usually from occasional thunderstorms triggered by diurnal heating when there is an incursion of cool air aloft. In early August, Italy is usually under the influence of a ridge extending from the Azores anticyclone and settled weather predominates. This large amount of rainfall in three days gives a measure of the unusual meteorological conditions that occurred.