For those of you who asked for cooler weather, be careful what you wish for.
A random hailstorm entered Rome on Sunday, hitting the historic city with strong winds, drowning rain, floodwaters, and knee-high ice drifts. The unexpected weather left an unusual but beautiful sight of summery, green-leafed trees surrounded by a snow-like blanket of ice. Just days before, residents were blessed with temperatures in the mid-70s.
About six metro stations were forced to close after the storm flooded the city’s A and B lines, as well as popular tourist sites like San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura. Other popular cities like Milan, Bologna, and Sicily, were also affected. Emergency teams worked overnight to get the roads back to normal in time for the Monday commute, but continued flooding in southern Italy was reported on Tuesday. If that’s not weird enough, weather reports are predicting temperatures back in the 70s for the rest of the week.
To make things worse, due to the severe weather event, Italian news agency Ansa reported that the last of the olives that had survived the spring freeze in the region of Lazio were destroyed.
Clearly, mother nature is not playing around, but this is not the first time this has happened. Back in August, the Italian island of Sardinia received a blast of unexpected hail, in the middle of a heat wave. With temperatures going beyond 95 degrees, the weather caused temperatures to drop into the low 50s then going back up just days later. And they say global warming isn’t a reality. The National Severe Storm Laboratory, part of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration agency, says “there is no clear distinction between storms that do and do not produce hailstones.”
If touring this weekend, be sure to pack an umbrella and raincoat. Heavy thunderstorms are in the forecast for Rome on Saturday.