The third wave of extreme heat is underway, and Sardinia will become a furnace with temperatures reaching 43, and in some cases even 45 degrees .
Lorenzo Tedici, meteorologist and media manager at iLMeteo.it, is categorical: we must arm ourselves with patience to face this period, which will give us no respite at least until July 20th .
The heatwave has already begun, but the first few days will be unusually hot due to a few thunderstorms that will concentrate in northern Italy and along the Apennines over the weekend, triggered by cool air infiltrations that will "pierce" the anticyclone. Then the heatwave will flare up in full force, and early next week will see its first extreme peak, with temperatures reaching 43-45 degrees Celsius in Sardinia .
For the Island, between Monday and Wednesday, the models predict for the first time "extraordinary" biometeorological conditions, and in particular in the inland areas of the south-west there will be oppressive, at times suffocating heat .
"This isn't media scaremongering," Tedici emphasizes. "These are official scientific terms used in medical meteorology to indicate conditions of extreme danger to the human body . It's a peremptory warning not to go out during the hottest and most humid hours of the day."
A slight improvement after Wednesday, but a new peak is expected on Friday the 17th. And to expect a real change, we'll have to wait until the third ten days of the month when, after July 20th, the descent of cold air currents from Sweden could bring some relief . However, the meteorologist explains, these are very long-term projections that could be proven wrong, because "the cool air could take other routes, sliding too far north or too far east, leaving us trapped in this never-ending extreme summer."
We have definitely entered a new climate regime , Tedici emphasizes: "And we have to ask ourselves what is more frightening: the extreme peaks of the African flames or the new normal of 34-35 degrees Celsius on days considered less scorching." This heat is no longer abnormal, to which we will have to get used, and which is primarily affecting Europe, which "is warming at twice the rate of the global average due to its proximity to the Sahara, from which massive subtropical air masses originate, the rapid melting of Alpine glaciers, and the collapse of Greenland and Arctic glaciers, which are altering the fragile balance of atmospheric circulation."
