HAIL

As I write, Messina, Enna and Caltanissetta Provinces have snow and it is extremely cold, by Sicilian standards, all over the island - a state of affairs not helped, of course, by the fact that Sicilian houses are built to protect dwellers from heat rather than freezing temperatures.

In Ragusa Province we have had two days of heavy hailstorms and this will probably continue tonight, according to forecasts. When I say "heavy" I mean it literally as the stones were the size of walnuts and the accompanying noise was quite something. I did think of going outside to photograph one of the stones for you but decided that "She finally succumbed to a passing hailstone" would have been an unfitting obituary.

Despite slippery roads and awful drainage, a severe hailstorm here does not stop people from using their cars - it would take Armageddon to do that - but it is enough to empty supermarkets, encourage people to cancel appointments and cause anxious mothers to wrap their offspring in as many layers of clothing as they can find and at least three wooly hats worn one on top of another [and that is only for indoors].

On the serious side, there has been a lot of damage to fruit and vegetable crops and at Randello Kamarina a 12,000-metre tomato crop has been totally destroyed.  Many other greenhouses and polytunnels along the Ragusan coastline have also been damaged.  Local politicians are calling for urgent regional government help for the growers.