Rare Tornado Strikes Venice, Italy

Rare Tornado in Venice

Credit: Still from YouTube video.

A tornado swept across Italy's historic island city of Venice at around 11 a.m. local time yesterday (June 12), leaving a trail of twisted debris and a shaken populace in its wake.

Videos and images posted on YouTube and splashed across the websites of local media outlets showed a large and menacing twister looming above picturesque tiled roofs and the historic seascapes for which the city is famed.

Tornadoes near the northern Italian coastal city are rare, but they have wreaked havoc in Venice in the past. On Sept. 11, 1970, one or more tornadoes ripped through the region, killing as many as 50 people. In Venice, the twister lifted a boat out of the water and slammed it back down again, killing at least 21 people, according to local media reports. Although the Mediterranean coast may not be famed for its tornadoes, Carbin said twisters can spin up just about anywhere. "There are hotspots, and of course in North America, we have the largest hotspots," Carbin said, "but tornadoes have been reported in England, France, Germany, Asia, Indonesia." A combination of warm air, moisture, a thunderstorm and layers of different winds in the atmosphere sets the stage for a twister. "Anywhere you can put those ingredients together, you can get a tornado," Carbin said.