An EF3 multivortex tornado over the ionian region: Is it time for a dedicated warning system over Italy?

An intense tornado affected southeastern Italy on November 2012. Unfortunately, as in the majority of European countries in Italy there are no procedures to warn for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Detailed and accurate statistics of the intensity and distribution of these events is still lacking over Italy. The only climatological study for tornadoes specific for Italy is incomplete and not up to date, and only a few case studies have been the subject of a detailed analysis. The ability to predict a tornado's precise path and intensity is an extremely complex process, requiring years of experimentation. Following the complex evolution of the Italian National Weather Service the institution by law of the National Distributed Weather Service in 2012 is the result of a long discussion started in the early 1990s. The new service will merge together the activity of the DPC, the Air Force Weather Service and the Regional Hydrometeorological Services, and should allow for a more rational organization of a system. The new organization should plan to establish an office dedicated to the diagnosis, monitoring, and forecasting of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. A potential model for this organization could be the Storm Prediction Center in the United States, a forecast center that issues convective outlooks, mesoscale discussions, and watches.