A violent hail storm has ravaged parts of Tuscany, Italy on Friday, with significant impacts on the region’s capital of Florence.

Videos of the storm show torrential rain and hail coming down, and while the hail stones themselves are not large, the sheer quantity is enough to cause chaos on the city streets. Local media report that the hail storm lasted about ten minutes in the city of Florence. This was plenty of time for hail stones to coat the roads like snow.



Radar reflectivity over Italy on Friday morning, afternoon. Holes in the storm suggest the reflectivity was so high that it maxed out on the color scale. ( Weather Underground

Radar shows the storm beginning off the west coast of Tuscany early Friday morning. As the storm crosses into Tuscany, it grows in size and intensity. By 1:30 p.m. local time, the storm is over Florence. Gaping holes in the storm suggest it was so intense that it maxed out on Weather Underground’s radar reflectivity scale.

The storm brought down trees across the city, which has lead to power outages. Roads were blocked and a number of government offices as well as schools and museums were closed for the day while the clean up process began. Italian media have reported as many as 50 injuries from the storm, and it’s likely that local farmers will be reporting extensive crop damage.