BIGBANG: rain and drought divide Italy

Focus on the European strategy to make water systems resilient

World Water Day - March 22

The year 2024 was a very rainy year; this was stated by BIGBANG, the national hydrological balance model of ISPRA that provides the quantitative framework on water resources from 1951 onwards, including deficits, excess precipitation and trends in hydrological quantities (precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration), necessary to characterize the current and future situation in the country.

The total annual volume of precipitation was estimated by ISPRA at around 319 billion cubic meters (corresponding to 1,056 mm), more than 10% higher than the annual average for the last thirty-year climatological period 1991-2020, estimated at around 285 billion cubic meters (951 mm). February was the wettest month, with a positive anomaly of +72% compared to the average value for the thirty-year period 1991-2020; on the other hand, November - normally among the wettest months - recorded a strong negative anomaly of -72% compared to the climatological average.

At regional and district level, the situation is very diverse: Northern Italy was affected by precipitation amounts higher than historical averages, which in some cases caused flooding events, such as those in Lombardy in May and in Emilia-Romagna in September and October. Southern Italy and the major islands continued to suffer significant precipitation deficits, which prolonged the drought and the related problems of water severity, even if Sardinia, in October, saw particularly intense rainfall events.