Bad weather expected to continue throughout weekend

(ANSA) - Rome, March 5 - Italy is bracing for more high winds, rainstorms and snow over the weekend after two people died on Thursday as a result of severe weather conditions. The weather is expected to remain highly unstable and cold across the country, with storms forecast on Friday and Saturday, said Edoardo Ferrara, a meteorologist from '3meteo.com'. Snow could fall at altitudes as low as 500-800 meters, he said. High winds are expected across the north, though not as heavy as Thursday, when a 41-year-old man died in the Tuscan city of Lucca after his car was hit by a boulder that fell off an embankment. A woman also died Thursday in the Marche city of Urbino after being hit by a tree uprooted by strong winds. According to Ferrara, the weather will improve across Italy by Tuesday next week, when high pressure will expand from north to south, with temperatures rising. On Thursday, winds were blowing at up to 140 km/h over central and northern Italy. Tuscany was the region worst affected and road authorities closed parts of the E45 motorway and Aurelia state road. A cable car was hit by a falling tree in the Alps and skittered off its cables but none of the 200 occupants was hurt. Snowstorms meanwhile battered the Apennines and up to a meter of snow is expected in central Italy on Friday, according to the Epson Meteo Center, which said the severe weather will be moving south, where winds may gust to 100 km/h or higher.