Weather tracker: Hail covers parts of Tunisia and Algeria like snow

Severe thunderstorms swept across North Africa this week, leaving parts of Tunisia and Algeria blanketed in thick layers of hail that resembled a winter snowfall.

The extreme weather was triggered by a surface low-pressure system in the Mediterranean meeting an upper-air cut-off low, with the intensity of the storms fueled by unseasonably hot precursor conditions in the region, News.Az reports, citing The Guardian.

In Algeria, the towns of Oum Ladjoul and Hammam Sokhna reported hail accumulations reaching depths of up to 3cm. Meanwhile, in Tunisia, residents in Makthar witnessed hailstones measuring up to 3cm in diameter. The volatile weather continued into Tuesday, leading to further significant accumulations, particularly in Ouled Bousmir, where a 2cm layer of hail covered the ground.

The atmospheric instability moved across the sea later in the week, developing into a new low-pressure system over Sicily. This shift brought violent downpours to central Italy on Wednesday, where the city of Ascoli Piceno recorded an extraordinary 52.1mm of rain in just over an hour. Other areas, including the Sicilian town of Bagheria, also experienced intense rainfall, signaling a period of widespread and turbulent weather across the Mediterranean basin.

News.Az 

By Leyla Şirinova