A slight, minimal shift in the southerly wind saved eastern Sardinia from a nightmare scenario today, where yesterday the regional Civil Protection Department issued a red alert, resulting in the closure of schools and parks in dozens of municipalities.
The storm front remained 30-40 kilometers offshore throughout the night, dumping much of its rain into the sea. The alert was therefore downgraded: first to orange, then, with a final bulletin issued before 2:00 PM, to yellow.
According to forecasts, the sirocco was expected to head straight for Sardinia from the Strait of Sicily. Instead, the flow arrived from the southwest and then turned northeast over Gallura, effectively bypassing the island. This weak dip kept the storm line at bay, which remained offshore for several hours. If the same amount of rain had fallen on residential areas overnight, ARPAS meteorologists emphasize, the impact this morning would have been much more severe .
According to radar estimates, about 50 millimeters per hour were expected from 6 PM yesterday throughout the night and into this morning, when the disturbance approached the stretch of land between the Gulf of Orosei and Gallura: here, meteorologists from ARPAS, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection, were able to measure its intensity.
The data collected by Arpas
Precipitation, however, was not lacking. The peak was recorded in Golfo Aranci, where the ARPAS station recorded (updated at 2 p.m.) 173 millimeters of rain in six hours, double the amount expected in a month between October and November .
Rain gauges recorded 59 millimeters in Loiri Porto San Paolo, 49 in Siniscola, 46 in La Maddalena, and about fifty in Budoni . Much fewer were recorded in Olbia, where twenty millimeters were recorded in San Pantaleo and about ten millimeters in Murta Maria; none at the port. It didn't rain in Nuoro either.
The forecasts
Isolated showers are possible along the Gallura coast in the next few hours. The main disturbance, currently located between France and Spain, will begin to move eastward and will head toward the mainland this evening, without affecting Sardinia. Therefore, no further severe weather conditions are expected in the coming days.
(Unioneonline)