Cold snap and storms cross Italy as the polar vortex weakens

Temperatures are set to drop below seasonal averages across Italy this week, with heavy rainfall and strong winds expected in the centre-south on Monday, according to The Local Italy, which reported the forecast for English-language readers in the country. The same outlet's Monday news roundup led with storm alerts for southern Italy. The warning was drawn for the centre-south as a whole rather than region by region, so it covers the Marche — the Adriatic coast and the Apennine interior alike — without naming the region.

On the southern coast the weather had already turned violent. Al Jazeera published surveillance footage on Monday evening showing the moment a tornado tore through a beach resort restaurant in Castellaneta Marina, in Puglia. The report gave no casualty figures and no estimate of the damage.

The wider frame came from the Guardian, which reported that the stratospheric polar vortex over the northern hemisphere faces the prospect of an unusually early weakening, with forecast models suggesting it could weaken significantly over the next ten days. The paper was careful about consequences: disruption to the winds above the Arctic threatens to alter weather patterns across parts of the continent in the coming weeks. No forecast was offered for any single country.