Sweltering heatwave peaks in Italy with 19 cities on red alert
Rome, Aug 25 (EFE).- A heatwave that has been battering Italy prompting authorities to place 19 cities on a red heat alert will likely peak on Friday.
Temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees over the next two days before a sharp drop of around 20 degrees from Sunday, according to Italy’s weather forecasting website iLMeteo.it.
Bari, Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Brescia, Campobasso, Florence, Frosinone, Latina, Perugia, Rieti, Rome, Trieste, Venice, Verona, Milan, Naples, Genoa, Turin and Viterbo were all placed on a red heat alert, while Ancona, Messina and Palermo in the south were placed on an orange alert.
The highest temperatures will again be recorded in the center-north section of the country where many towns and cities will exceed 40 degrees, including Florence, Prato, Arezzo, Bologna, Pavia and Verona, where authorities have shared a map of the city’s fountains with tourists so they can keep hydrated and cool.
Rome’s vast network of around 2,800 fountains has proven essential this week for thousands of tourists visiting the Italian capital and the Vatican.
“Thank goodness there are fountains everywhere,” Cintia, a Spaniard from Madrid, tells EFE.
“It was horrible, we almost suffered from heat stroke, it’s been so hot since we arrived,” the Spaniard adds.
Lisa, who is from a town near Venice (northeast) where she says humidity levels are much higher, says “the heat is quite bearable” in Rome and says she has been coping with “shade and water”.
Milan, Padua, Bolzano, Sardinia, all in the north, and the southern cities of Taranto, Caserta and Syracuse are expecting the mercury to reach at least 38 degrees amid tropical nights that have not dropped below 30.
However, Cyclone Nero’s days are numbered and the sweltering heat is expected to lose some intensity by Saturday.
On Sunday a sharp decline in temperatures of between 15 and 20 degrees in some cities has been forecast by iLMeteo.it.
Strong storms are expected in the Alps from Saturday, which will gradually sweep across to Piedmont and Lombardy, with intense storms, large hail and strong winds forecast for Sunday and Monday affecting most of the central-northern regions.EFE
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