when the apex. The dates – The Time

“The African heatwave will tend to intensify further in the next few hours with a peak between Thursday and Friday, especially in the Center-South”, confirms 3bmeteo.com meteorologist Edoardo Ferrara who explains – “peaks of 38-40°C will be possible in the inland areas far from the sea, if not even a little more in the Tuscan-Umbrian valleys, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia. A situation that can only worsen the sometimes severe drought conditions that affect a good part of these regions (primarily Sicily). Intense heat also in the North, although with a few degrees less but still peaks above 35-36°C in the Po Valley, while in the Alps the freezing level could exceed 4500m. All this will be exacerbated by sometimes oppressive muggy conditions, especially in the Po Valley and along the coastal areas, but generally during the evening hours when relative humidity will increase at the same time as still high temperatures”.

“The heat build-up will in fact be felt even during the evening hours, when after sunset temperatures may still hover around 30°C, especially in large cities, with a high sensation of physical discomfort” – continues Ferrara of 3bmeteo.com – “for many coastal and plain locations we will in fact have to deal with the so-called tropical nights, that is, nights in which minimum temperatures may not fall below 23-24°C, as happens in the tropics”. “The African anticyclone will show signs of weakening in the North between Wednesday and Friday, when some thunderstorms could appear first especially in the Alps and Piedmont, but later also in the Po Valley, especially in the Northeast. Given the high accumulation of heat and humidity, the phenomena could be locally violent, associated with hail of even large size and/or violent gusts of wind. Over the weekend some strong thunderstorms could also appear in the Central-South, with greater probability in the Apennines and Adriatic side, but in any case in a context of predominantly sunny weather. In this phase the African heat wave will undergo a partial dampening, but in any case a few degrees will be lost especially in the North and along the Adriatic side”, conclude from 3bmeteo.com.