ROME: The intense heatwave gripping Italy started to break up in the country’s northern areas on Monday. However, it has been replaced by hail and thunderstorms and with flood warnings.
The weather will remain dry and hot in central and southern areas of the country, which have set new records for high heat in recent weeks.
However, the intensity of the heatwave will drop slightly this week. By Wednesday, only two of the country’s twenty-seven major cities would be under a red alert, down from sixteen on Monday and more than twenty last week, Xinhua reported.
A “red alert” means that the temperature can represent a health risk, even for young people with no health problems.
Starting Thursday, the temperature will drop even in the central and southern areas of the country.
The thunderstorm is expected in Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Veneto, and Piedmont. Valle d’Aosta, and Liguria on Monday and Tuesday.
Heavy rains could result in flooding, wind with gusts of up to 130 kilometers per hour, and heavy hail that could damage crops.
Italy Faces Series of Extreme Weather Challenges
Italy has faced a series of extreme weather hardships over the last eighteen months, including a prolonged heatwave and drought in 2022 that slashed agricultural production and reduced most of its main rivers to historically low levels.
The long summer of 2022 was followed by severe storms in the fall that led to massive flooding and infrastructure damage, then a warm winter. Resultantly, there was more flooding earlier this year, followed by the current heatwave.
