The Apennines do not receive rainfall evenly. Atlantic fronts wet the Tyrrhenian side more often, while the Adriatic side frequently stays in a rain shadow. On the same ridge, one slope can receive twice as much rain as the opposite one - and that changes everything when you are trying to understand forest conditions.
This map shows ERA5 rainfall totals overlaid on Apennine forest cover. You can visualise rain over the last 24 hours, the last 7 days or longer periods, and see exactly where moisture has been sufficient and where the soil is still dry.
How to interpret the data
- Below 5 mm: light rain, often not enough to wet the understorey under dense canopy.
- 10-20 mm: optimal wetting. Water enters the soil without causing excessive runoff.
- Above 30 mm in 24h: soil saturation. Cold and intense rain can block fruiting instead of helping it.
Use the time slider to rebuild the previous 7 to 10 days, not only the latest event: the forest reacts to cumulative wetting, not to a single shower.
Full view
Open the map with this context already applied.
Region, layer and focus remain aligned with the page so the transition from text to tool is immediate without being abrupt.