2023-07-18 11:55:24
WEATHER
Italian health authorities issued the highest-level heat warnings for almost all of Italy’s cities as the ferocious heatwave sweeping the country intensifies.
Published: 18 July 2023 12:07 CEST
Italy is currently experiencing a heatwave described as “one of the most intense of all time”. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)
The Italian health ministry issued the highest-level ‘red’ alert for 23 out of 27 Italian cities and provinces for Wednesday, July 19th, with the remaining four on a lower-level alert.
Wednesday is expected to bring the peak of an ongoing heatwave which Italian weather experts have described as “the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time.”
On Tuesday, 20 cities were already on red alert due to the heat: Ancona, Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Cagliari, Campobasso, Florence, Frosinone, Latina, Messina, Naples, Palermo, Perugia, time.news, Rieti, Rome, Trieste, Venice , Verona and Viterbo.
On Wednesday they’ll be joined by Bari, Catania, Civitavecchia and Turin, while Bolzano drops down to yellow.
READ ALSO: How long will Italy’s heatwave last?
Milan and Reggio Calabria were given an amber alert on Wednesday, with Bolzano and Genoa on yellow.
A red alert is issued when the heat is so intense it poses a threat to the whole population.
Temperatures were forecast to climb as high as 47 degrees Celsius in southern Sardinia this week, 46°C in Sicily and 45°C in the province of Foggia, in Puglia.
Rome was sweltering with temperatures forecast to climb above 40°C on Tuesday, which meteorologists warned could break the city’s heat record.
The heat is forecast to break in parts of northern Italy by Thursday, while temperatures in southern regions should return to seasonal averages by early next week.
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