Severe thunderstorms bearing heavy rain, hail, and damaging winds are set to strike swaths of western and central Europe over the next two days, prompting high-level weather alerts in three countries.
Italy's Civil Protection issued orange-level warnings for thunderstorms and hydrogeological risk across multiple Lombardy zones, with yellow alerts extending to eight northern and central regions through Thursday. Forecasters warned that cloudbursts cannot be ruled out as the system moves southeast.
In Poland, a new wave of dangerous weather is expected to arrive Thursday, with storms advancing from the Czech Republic and Slovakia bringing up to 40 mm of rain and wind gusts of 90 km/h. The government's security centre issued storm alerts nationwide.
The German Weather Service placed 17 western districts on red alert for thunderstorms, torrential rain, and hail up to 3 cm, with wind gusts reaching 100 km/h across parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.