Posted: 2023-02-21 08:30:30

Weeks of dry winter weather have raised concerns that Italy could face another drought after last summer's emergency, with the Alps having received less than half of their normal snowfall, according to scientists and environmental groups. 

The warning comes as Venice, where flooding is normally the primary concern, faces unusually low tides that are making it impossible for gondolas, water taxis and ambulances to navigate some of its famous canals.

The problems in Venice are being blamed on a combination of factors — the lack of rain, a high-pressure system, a full moon and sea currents.

Italian rivers and lakes are suffering from a severe lack of water, the Legambiente environmental group said on Monday, with attention focused on the north of the country.

The Po, Italy's longest river which runs from the Alps in the north-west to the Adriatic, has 61 per cent less water than normal at this time of year, it added in a statement.

A black gondola sits on a muddy surface at a dock on Venice's Grand Canal, as traditionally dressed gondoliers look on.
A gondola docks in Venice's Grand Canal during a severe low tide on Friday.(Reuters: Manuel Silvestri)

Italy declared a state of emergency last July for areas surrounding the Po, which accounts for roughly one-third of the country's agricultural production and suffered its worst drought for 70 years.

"We are in a water deficit situation that has been building up since the winter of 2020-2021," climate expert Massimiliano Pasqui, from scientific research institute CNR, was quoted as saying by Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"We need to recover 500 millimetres in the north-western regions: we need 50 days of rain," he added.

A number of small motorboats and rowing boats sit either in or to the side of a small amount of water in a Venetian canal.
Boats sit low in their moorings as a canal in Venice is affected by a severe low tide.(Reuters: Manuel Silvestri)

Water levels on Lake Garda in northern Italy have fallen to record lows, making it possible to reach the small island of San Biagio on the lake via an exposed pathway.

An anticyclone — a high-pressure system which rotates in the opposite direction to a cyclone — has been dominating the weather in western Europe for 15 days, bringing mild temperatures more normally seen in late spring.

The latest weather forecasts do, however, signal the arrival of much-needed precipitation and snow in the Alps in coming days.

Reuters

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