Italy's third heatwave of the summer
is set to arrive on Sunday, bringing record temperatures and
immediately replacing the second to deny the nation a moment of
respite.
The new heatwave is forecast to peak on Tuesday, when
temperatures in areas of southern Sardinian may reach 48°
Celsius, according to forecasts.
The temperature in Rome is forecast to reach 41°C on Monday and
43° on Tuesday, beating the record of 40.7° set last summer.
Exceptionally high temperatures are also forecast for the rest
of the country.
On Saturday 15 major Italian 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, Rome, Viterbo. Bari, Cagliari, Catania,
Civitavecchia and Messina.
Palermo will join them on Sunday.
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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