The spring equinox will fall at 4.06 am on Wednesday 20 March 2024. A week early, mild, sunny and spring-like conditions are arriving almost everywhere, except for some unstable notes in the south and in the middle Adriatic today.
The sub-tropical anticyclone
From an astronomical point of view, it has happened continuously since 2008, and it will happen again: until 2043, March 20th will always be the first day of spring. With March 21st removed from the astronomical calendar for at least another twenty years, spring conditions will arrive even earlier in 2024: from the next few hours a sub-tropical anticyclone, the African anticyclone, will rise from Morocco and Algeria towards Italy bringing lots of sun and maximum temperatures up to and above 20°C.
The danger of avalanches remains high
In all this calm and pleasant context, we must underline something relevant and significant out of fussiness: the avalanche danger will remain very high, grade 4 on a scale that goes from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 5. ‘Strong’ danger on a large part of the central-western Alpine chain due to the record snow accumulations in the month of March. No off-piste or snowshoeing, for now.
Showers in the South
In addition to the difficult snow conditions, we will also find showers in the South and locally in the middle Adriatic due to cyclonic residues at high altitude and daytime heating: today mainly heat storms will form in the afternoon, in the normal spring evolution.
Crisp lows in the North
Maximum temperatures will rise to around 20°C also in the North; be careful, however, the minimum temperatures will be crisp, locally around 2-4°C in the plains. This will mean, for a few days, having to dress like a bow, covered in the morning and then undress during the day.
Next sunny weekend
From a forecast point of view, after Wednesday 13 March marked by some thunderstorms, we will have a prevalence of sun from North to South on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday we will find some thunderstorms in the Centre-South, while on Sunday 17 March the sky will be blue and the weather mild everywhere (21°C expected in Bolzano): all in all, next weekend will break the curse of weekends.
Three weekends of bad weather
In fact, we had reached 3 weekends in a row spoiled by bad weather; now we can finally plan our first trip to the seaside or a nice ski trip, but always on the slopes until the tons of fallen snow have settled properly.
Mid March like mid September
Finally, let’s remember that the sun in mid-March has an intensity of rays equal to that of mid-September: a first coat of sun cream won’t hurt, especially on the whiter skin of those who have experienced the long ‘curse of the weekends’ at home or under gray and leaden skies.
In detail
Wednesday 13. In the north: sun and spring weather except for fog/overcast skies in the morning in the Triveneto. Middle: sunny. In the south: some storms in Calabria.
Thursday 14th. In the north: good weather and mild climate. Center: prevailing sun. In the south: good weather.
Friday 15th. In the north: lots of clouds, drizzle in Liguria, night rains in the Northeast. In the centre: sky becoming increasingly overcast, showers of rain in upper Tuscany. In the south: good weather.
Trend: rather stable atmosphere also for the weekend of March 16-17. Saturday with a few more storms in the Centre-South.
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– 2024-03-14 20:38:26