Italy braces for fourth summer heatwave as temperatures approach 41C

Italy is preparing for its fourth heatwave of the summer, with an anticyclone building over the country from Wednesday. The centre and north of the peninsula will bear the brunt of the rising temperatures, which are forecast to peak at 41C by the end of the week.

Meteorologist Lorenzo Tedici noted that the "core" of the incoming anticyclone would "sit between France and northern Italy". He warned that "temperatures will start climbing in the next few hours, with the mercury reaching 37C in Terni and 36C in Rome, Naples and Florence".

Public health alerts are rapidly expanding across the country as the heat intensifies. While ten cities, including Rome, Turin, and Florence, were placed on an orange alert on Wednesday, Campobasso remained the only location under a maximum red warning.

Conditions are expected to deteriorate further on Thursday. Perugia and Rieti will join Campobasso under red alerts, and the number of cities facing orange warnings will rise to 16, encompassing major hubs like Milan, Bologna, and Venice.

Strain on public resources

This relentless weather pattern poses a mounting strain on public resources and regional stability. Several areas remain on high alert for wildfires, with Rome and its surroundings already hit harder than usual in July, compounding the pressure on local emergency services.

Atmospheric physicist Lorenzo Giovannini from the University of Trento explained that the weather system is advancing from the south-west, passing through Spain and southern France before settling over the Italian peninsula. He emphasized that "temperatures will be high almost everywhere in Italy, but will deviate most from seasonal averages in the centre-north."

Giovannini confirmed this is the fourth such event since late May, noting that "they have followed one another almost without a break: the intervals have been very brief." He added that the country is "well above the average of past years, including in terms of temperatures."

The prolonged duration threatens to disrupt the August 15th Ferragosto holiday, a critical period for public life and regional activity across the peninsula. Forecasters now expect the extreme conditions to persist until at least that date, with Tedici predicting "nothing but the unchallenged rule of sun and record heat."