Northern Italy under orange thunderstorm alerts

Italy's Civil Protection issued orange thunderstorm warnings for four northern regions — Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige.

The alert zone stretches across the entire Alpine and pre-Alpine north of the country, including the Milan, Venice and Trieste metropolitan areas.

June storms in the Po Valley are notorious for large hail and violent downdrafts: moist air from the Adriatic collides with cold air over the Alps, producing some of Europe's most powerful thunderstorm cells.

The warnings were issued on June 10 and are renewed while the storm pattern persists; northern Italy remains in the unstable sector.

Why it is dangerous and what to do