Tornado Scare in Northern Italy

Strong thunderstorms moving through the Italian province of Lombardy generated at least two tornadoes. Reporters from the area have shared incredible images of tornadoes forming in the countryside and just to the south of Milan.

The storms hit the region during the morning and afternoon hours of 23 May 2016 with not only tornadoes but with lightning as well. Earth Networks Total Lightning Network™ detected approximately 22,688 lightning strikes during a 12-hour period in the area. The below video shows the path of the lightning as the storms moved westward.

Earth Networks sent out over 12 Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts (DTA’s) during the inclement weather. The below image, taken from Earth Networks’ StreamerRT℠ nowcasting tool earlier in the day, shows Level 1 and Level 2 weather alerts as green and orange polygons. The three purple polygons represent DTA’s.

DTA’s are an important tool for forecasting severe weather conditions additional to lightning, such as hail, microbursts and even tornadoes. The below video shows the recorded alerts for the 12-hour period in action.