Rapid change of season coming, drop of 15°C, rain, gusts and even snow at high altitude. A drop in temperatures reached last year only between October and November
«Suddenly, Summer collapsed into Autumn» This phrase by Oscar Wilde reflects very well what will happen in the next few days. According to Lorenzo Tedici, meteorologist at iLMeteo.it, a cyclone filled with maritime polar air will reach Italy already this evening, Wednesday, with the first thunderstorms in the Alps and Prealps, extending to the Po Valley at night. Between Thursday and Friday, all of Italy will «collapse» into autumn.
Is the summer heat already over?
“To be precise, not entirely: in the next few hours, we will still feel the summer air with lots of sun and highs of up to 32°C in Sicily, 31 in Puglia but also 30°C in Emilia Romagna (Forlì) and Umbria (Terni). The 29°C in Ferrara, Florence, Naples, Rome and Pesaro will also be summery, even if they are already much less ‘African’ than in recent days”.
When will the heat end?
«Between tomorrow and Friday, when we will plunge everywhere into a real autumn phase: 30°C will be a “hot memory”, in some cities we will have halving of the maximum temperatures; Bologna, for example, will go from about 30°C to less than 20°C on Friday.
What temperatures are expected?
«Almost all of Central-Northern Italy will oscillate on fully autumnal highs on Friday 13, around the thermal value that in the last few days has represented the minimum: 20°C! A temperature that, in recent years, has rarely been recorded for more than one day in September; and this autumnal phase will be rather long».
In short, what will happen from this evening onwards?
“We will have a drop of even 15°C, snow will arrive in the Alps up to 1500-1700 meters (on the border reliefs up to 1100 meters!), there will be widespread rain and a strengthening of the wind. “And suddenly, summer collapsed into autumn”, the phrase of Oscar Wilde represents the weather of the next few days very well”.
In detail, what will the weather conditions be like in the next few days?
“After a sunny Wednesday spoiled in the evening by the arrival of the polar cyclone, we will have a Thursday with rain and thunderstorms especially in the North-East and in the central regions; on Friday the rain and the drop in temperatures will also hit the South while we will have an improvement in the North and in the central Tyrrhenian regions”.
Will the heat return this weekend?
“Absolutely not: we will find the sun again over the weekend, but in an autumnal thermal context: maximum temperatures of up to 27°C are expected only in Sicily and Calabria, elsewhere we will be below 25°C with Rome at 24°C (pleasant) like Oristano and Cagliari. In Lecce we will not exceed 23°C, in the rest of the country we will struggle to go above 19°C in the hottest hours: just think, a year ago such cool maximum temperatures were recorded only from mid-October onwards, or rather locally only from November onwards”.
Will it be cold in the morning?
«Yes, this will be another very important note of the drastic weather change coming: in addition to the falling maximums, the rain, the snow and the wind (with local storm surges) we will also have almost cold nights: the minimums will drop to single digits, for example in Milan we will have 7-8°C at dawn for the whole weekend, a decidedly cold value for the period».
Conclusions?
«A seasonal change is also urgently needed in our wardrobes: down jacket (perhaps the light 80 gram one), sweatshirts, long trousers even in the South, gloves and hats and ski suits for those who will be in the Alps in the next few days even at medium-low altitudes. An «September that disguises itself as November».