Anticyclone Hannibal to bring year's first real heatwave

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 13 - The African anticyclone Hannibal is set to bring the year's first real heatwave to Italy starting this weekend and peaking Tuesday, forecasters said Friday.
    Italy is already seeing temperatures eight degrees above the seasonal average and the heat wave is set to bring peaks more commonly seen in July, said Antonio Sanò, director and founder of the website iLMeteo.it.
    Sanò said the current Camel's Back African anticyclone, another name for Hannibal, would be "reinforced across the central Mediterranean and stretch north as far as Poland and Denmark".
    Temperatures will reach well over 32-33°C, he said, especially in northern Italy, but the heat will spread to the centre and south over the weekend.
    If it were August, with seas hot, this weather configuration would spell temps of 37-39°C, said Sanò.
    But at the moment temps are mitigated by the Mediterranean basin still being relatively cool, around 20-22°C.
    Brief moments of afternoon cool respite are forecast in the Alps at the weekend, and locally in the Po Valley, with scattered thunderstorms, as happens at the height of summer.
    The heat wave will bring steamy and breathless 'afa' conditions to most of the country.
    Here is the forecast in detail: - Friday 13: North: sunny and summery heart but with afternoon thunderstorms in the Alps in the Triveneto. Centre: fine weather, heat. South: clear or slightly cloudy.
    - Saturday 14: North: early showers in the Triveneto and Lombardy, improving from the afternoon on. Centre: fine, hot.
    South: fine, hot.
    - Sunday 15: North: sunny and summery heat, but with isolated thunderstorms from the Alps to the adjacent plains, more likely in the northwest. Centre: fine, hot, isolated showers on high ground in Abruzzo. South: fine, hot.
    - Trend: Domination of Anticyclone Hannibal, with African high pressure bringing a further increase in temperatures with mainly sunny conditions at least until the middle of next week. (ANSA).