Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1422293
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 OCTOBER 2021 NEWS 25 th - 30 th October THERE'S ONLY ONE MDINA ROAD, QORMI, QRM 9010 MALTA T. (+356) 2269 2000 E. INFO@MOTORSINC.COM.MT | W. MOTORSINC.COM.MT Print_OW_13x5col.indd 1 Print_OW_13x5col.indd 1 13/10/2021 14:29 13/10/2021 14:29 'People should look out for themselves' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The Malta Met Office said that it is highly likely that Malta expe- riences "heavy rainfall between Wednesday and Thursday […] It will definitely be stormy and people should look out for them- selves but we are not looking at issuing a code red warning". Italian meteorologists said the stretch of sea between the Sicil- ian Canal, the Ionian Sea and up to the Libyan Sea was particularly warmer than the norm with val- ues of 8°C above the average for the period. A cyclonic system will form later on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 October, assuming characteristics of extra-tropical cyclones similar to real hurri- canes. Although Mediterranean cy- clones between the Ionian and Libyan seas have often touched upon Calabria and Sicily, these often reached characteristics comparable to a tropical storm. Meteorologists this time said Italy could be facing a category 1 hurricane for the first time ev- er, with winds of over 120km/h, and with even more striking features such as the presence of a clearly visible eye around which cloudy bodies will rotate counter-clockwise, providing exceptional rainfall. "As is often the case when at- tempting to predict this type of extreme phenomena, the trajec- tory can be often unpredictable, however at present it seems that this medicane is really going to hit Sicily strongly," experts at il- meteo.it said. Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones, often referred to as medicanes, but sometimes also as Mediterranean cyclones or as Mediterranean hurricanes, are meteorological phenomena occa- sionally observed over the Medi- terranean Sea. On a few rare occasions, some storms have been observed reach- ing the strength of a Category 1 hurricane, on the Saffir-Simpson scale and one storm has been re- corded reaching Category 2 in- tensity. The main societal hazard posed by medicanes is not usually from destructive winds, but through life-threatening torrential rains and flash floods. The storm has caused extreme flooding in Catania