At the start of this week an area of low pressure moved off the coast of north Africa, deepening as it travelled northwards across the Mediterranean before situating itself over Italy. Consequentially, much of the country received persistent heavy rain from Monday to Wednesday with the largest quantity falling over the north-eastern Emilia-Romagna region.
Within a 36-hour period this region received an average 200mm of rainfall, although some areas recorded at least 500mm during the same period. Given Emilia-Romagna receives an average of 1,000mm a year, 50% of the annual mean rainfall falling in a short timeframe in a localised area has led to substantial flooding as rivers burst their banks.
The flooding has been exacerbated by the previous months of drought conditions, drying out soils and reducing their capacity to store water. Extensive flooding submerged thousands of acres of farmland, towns and villages, resulting in thousands of evacuations with an estimated €20m (£17.4m) in damages. Additionally, the Formula One grand prix scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled and at least nine deaths have been reported so far.
Meanwhile over in Nunavut, Canada, early May temperature records were broken last weekend. On Saturday 13 May a temperature of 21.2C (70F) was recorded by a weather station next to Hudson Bay - which is now frozen over – beating the previous record of 14.5C by an astonishing 6.7C. The record-breaking temperatures come as part of a large heatwave that is affecting much of the Pacific north-west as well as central parts of Canada.
While this heatwave is not the most extreme the region has experienced, it has significantly contributed to the continuing wildfires in western Canada that have forced thousands to evacuate their homes. The amount of evacuations required was reduced earlier this week by a passing cold front, although strong winds did manage to blow wildfire smoke eastwards, leaving many central areas with poor air quality.
As of Monday 15 May the wildfires had burned almost half a million hectares (1.25m acres). While wildfires are not uncommon in May, this wildfire has so far burned about 10 times the average for this time of year.
