Bad weather: the “medicane”, this rare Mediterranean cyclone which will sweep over Sicily – LCI

Sicily in the face of bad weather. After suffering heavy rainfall causing flooding, the region of southern Italy is preparing to face its second cyclone, dubbed “Apollo”, on Thursday in the space of a week. A rather special cyclone, since it is a “medicane”.

Uncommon but recurring, the “medicane” – contraction of “mediterranean hurricane” – is a depression which is widening on the Mediterranean area. It then takes on the characteristics of a tropical system: a tropical storm or cyclone, depending on its intensity, specifies Météo France.

These large depressions can form when the sea is warmer at the end of summer, causing storms and heavy rainfall. Their frequency is likely to intensify with the warming of the seas induced by climate change, according to experts.

“The formation mechanisms are similar to those of cyclones: in an unstable air mass, these depressions are supplied with energy by the warm waters of the Mediterranean. The very strong convection will contribute to deepen the depression. Their genesis, however, is different. “, according to Météo France.

Three people have already died in Sicily during torrential rains and mudslides that have hit the region of Catania, the second largest city in Sicily, since this weekend. The inhabitants of this coastal town in the south-east of the island were preparing for another episode of bad weather on Thursday.

According to Antonio Navarra, meteorologist and president of the Euro-Mediterranean center on climate change, quoted on Wednesday by the newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, Sicily, which also broke heat records this summer, is at the center of extreme weather events. “We are trying to understand if with climate change these phenomena will become more intense and if their nature will change with the increase in their frequency.e, “he explained.