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When will Italy’s latest heatwave come to an end?

Temperatures have soared across Italy this week. When are things likely to cool off?

Published: 21 August 2023 17:14 CEST

When will Italy's current heatwave come to an end?

When will Italy's current heatwave come to an end? Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP.

Italy is once more in the grip of a heatwave – the third of the summer, and one of the most intense so far.

With 12 cities on red alert as of Monday, the heatwave has sweat-drenched residents and visitors alike asking when temperatures will start to level off. So what can people in Italy expect?

According to the Italian weather site Il Meteo, relief isn’t in sight just yet, as the stifling conditions are set to last well into the weekend.

The African anticyclone that’s responsible for the oppressive heat is expected to stick around until the end of Saturday, when a cold front is due to start gradually moving in from the north and bringing temperatures back down.

The country’s central Tyrrhenian regions and the lower Po Valley are set to be the hardest-hit parts of the country, with mercury levels climbing as high as 40C/104F in some areas.

Even at an elevation of 1,500m in the Alps, temperatures are expected to reach 30C/86F – some 10 degrees Celsius above the seasonal average.

High humidity will cause temperatures to feel even hotter in many areas, with residents of low-altitude parts of the country in for a series of muggy nights that are unlikely to dip below 20C/68F.

Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Florence, Frosinone, Latina, Palermo, Perugia, Rieti, Rome, Turin and Verona were all placed under red alert by Italy’s health ministry on Monday, and were due to be joined by Genoa, Milan, Naples and Trieste from Tuesday.

This highest-level risk warning means the heat poses a threat to the general population, not just to more vulnerable groups such as young children and the elderly.

The government’s official advice is to stay indoors during the afternoon when the heat is most intense, drink plenty of water, and avoid exercise during the day.

Along with much of the rest of Europe, southern Italy has been hit by major wildfires this summer exacerbated by sweltering temperatures.

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'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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