Snow, hail and wind: a prelude to winter in Varese Province

The first snowflakes, a freezing cold wind and a sprinkle of hail. Over the weekend, we saw all of the ingredients of winter, and had to take out our anoraks and woolly hats hurriedly from the wardrobe.

The abrupt transition from the mild autumn that had accompanied us so far, to the winter that awaits us was marked by the arrival of snow: 5 cm at the “Campo dei Fiori” Observatory, a flurry on rooftops in Brinzio (on the right, in a photo from our reader Anna Sacconi), and in Valganna, but also in Valceresio and Valcuvia. And the freezing wind of last night (which will continue all day) was accompanied by a little thunder and lightening, which were highlighted in some areas by hailstones (in the photo below: the mountains, with a sprinkling of snow, as seen from Valcuvia).

"We’re in the eye of the storm," explained Paolo Valisa, from the Pre-Alpine Geophysics Centre, in Varese. “From the satellite images this morning, you could see a small blue spot with Varese in the middle of it; it was the eye of the low pressure that is causing this sharp deterioration in the weather conditions.” And so, the whole province awoke, this morning, to cold weather, albeit with considerable differences in temperature, even in the same area. “During the night, the temperature on Campo Dei Fiori fell to -3°,” Valisa confirmed. “Of course, it wasn’t as cold in town, but there were differences from place to place. In Sant’Ambrogio, this morning, it was 2.5°; in the centre, the temperature didn’t fall below 6°.” So, the forecasts were right, but the cold is even more biting than what the weathermen at Campo dei Fiori had expected. The wind will continue to blow over Varese all day, bringing with it rain and sporadic bright spells.

During the night, temperatures will fall again, and there will be the first frost, particularly on the heathland. Tomorrow, the sun will shine again, but the temperatures will remain low, despite the upward trend. The forecast for next Tuesday is new clouds, but no rain.