Hail and Heavy Rain Strike North Africa, Italy and the US Midwest

**TL;DR** Hail up to three centimetres deep covered parts of Algeria and Tunisia, Italy saw hourly rain totals exceeding fifty millimetres, and baseball‑sized hail fell in Wisconsin.

A surge of moist, unstable air triggered severe thunderstorms across three continents this week. A surface low over the Mediterranean combined with an upper‑air cut‑off low, lifting warm, humid air and sparking intense convection over North Africa and southern Europe.

In Algeria and Tunisia, observers from the Algerian National Meteorological Office measured hail depth with rulers after the storms and used calipers to stone diameter. They recorded hail layers up to 3 cm deep in Oum Ladjoul and Hammam Sokhna, with individual stones reaching 3 cm in diameter in Makthar, Tunisia.

Central Italy’s downpours were logged by the Italian Civil Protection Department’s rain‑gauge network. Tipping‑bucket gauges in Ascoli Piceno collected 52.1 mm of rain in just over one hour and ten minutes, while Mosciano Sant’Angelo’s gauges recorded 62.3 mm in under one hour and fifty minutes, indicating extreme hourly rates.

Near Madison, Wisconsin, spotters and radar from the NOAA Storm Prediction Center estimated hail size. Reports described baseball‑sized stones about 7 cm in diameter, roughly twice the size of the Tunisian hail, confirming a severe supercell that also prompted a tornado warning.

The storms also produced additional hazards: tornado watches across the US Midwest, flash‑flood alerts in Sicily, and further hail up to 2 cm deep in Ouled Bousmir, Tunisia. These events highlight the growing risk of intense convective activity when warm surface temperatures meet strong upper‑level dynamics.

Forecasters will monitor the lingering low‑pressure system over the Mediterranean and the jet stream over North America for further severe weather.