Italy's stifling heatwave is set to
get even more intense over the weekend, with the number of major
cities on red alert climbing to 15 on Saturday and 16 on Sunday,
the health ministry said.
On Friday 10 cities are on red alert, meaning that the heat is
so intense it poses a threat to the whole population, not just
groups such as the elderly, the clinically vulnerable and very
young children.
They are Bologna, Campobasso, Florence, Frosinone, Latina,
Perugia, Pescara, Rieti, Roma and Viterbo.
Bari, Cagliari, Catania, Civitavecchia and Messina will join
them on Saturday, with Palermo coming in on Sunday.
The current heat wave is forecast to last well into next week,
with temperatures climbing above 40° Celsius in some areas.
A study coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health
and published in the Nature Medicine journal this week estimated
that over 18,000 people died in Italy due to the intense heat
the nation endured last summer.
Scientists say the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse gas
emissions is making extreme weather events such as heat waves,
drought, supercharged storms and flooding more frequent and more
intense.
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