As of: February 29, 2024, 12:02 p.m
By: Moritz Bletzinger
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Snow rollers and desert sand: The Piedmontese Alps are likely to be covered in pink on Sunday.
© Imagebroker/Imago/Il Meteo
A cyclone area is heading towards Italy.
The country is hit by violent storms.
In addition, there are two meters of new snow in the Alps, which could turn pink.
Munich – “Leap years are catastrophic years,” says an Italian proverb, and currently there actually seems to be something in the superstition.
Storms rage in northern Italy.
Half the country is under water, schools were closed due to flooding and the red alert is in effect in Veneto and the yellow alert in 15 other regions.
Italy is far from over the extreme weather, and it is likely to last at least until the weekend.
Cyclone area hits Italy: storms from Emilia-Romagna to Sardinia
Sunday (March 3) will be “a date that will be marked on the calendar as 'terrible',” writes
La Repubblica
.
A cyclone bounces off air masses in the Mediterranean and drifts towards Italy.
In the east the vortex is blocked by a high pressure area.
The result: The cyclone area is intensifying, bringing violent storms to Emilia-Romagna on Thursday and devastating cyclones to all of Italy by the weekend.
Extreme weather in Italy is expected to cause pink snow in the Alps
The weather portal Il Meteo
expects two meters of fresh snow
in the Piedmont Alps on Sunday.
But the snow roller doesn't come alone.
At the same time, the Scirocco wind is expected to carry a load of desert dust from North Africa to the European mountains.
The result: an extraordinary natural phenomenon.
Mixed with red sand, the snow in the Alps is likely to turn pink.
The pink sand snow should not be confused with “watermelon” snow.
Behind the natural phenomenon from the USA is an algae that gives the mountain peaks a romantic color - completely harmless to humans.
Snow club in the Alpine region: high risk of avalanches
The color is not without danger even in the Italian Alps, but the snow in this amount is.
The avalanche level was massively increased and one valley was even evacuated.
A number of snow slabs have already fallen off in the past few days, and a German died in an avalanche in South Tyrol.
And the danger is not likely to diminish: Now comes the snow, then a thaw.
(moe)