Extreme heat splits Italy in two: over 44C in south, heavy showers in north
By Euronews Published on 28/08/2026 - 15:45 GMT+2•Updated ...
By Euronews
Published on 28/08/2026 - 15:45 GMT+2•Updated 15:47
The fifth heatwave reached its peak on Friday, splitting Italy in two, with temperatures in the centre-south and on the islands above 40 degrees, a full ten degrees above the seasonal average, and severe thunderstorms forecast in the north in the coming hours.
Making the situation worse is humidity, which pushes the perceived temperature at least five degrees higher than the actual reading, as well as scorching nights, known as "tropical" nights, with temperatures in many cases close to 30 degrees.
Despite a slight improvement expected over the next few days, meteorologists have warned that temperatures will remain far above average even in September.
Nine cities are on red alert for the heat emergency, where the health risks linked to the extreme muggy conditions are serious even for people not considered vulnerable. They are Bari, Cagliari, Campobasso, Catania, Latina, Messina, Palermo, Reggio Calabria and Rome.
Heat emergency in the South and on the islands, slight improvement from Saturday
In these urban centres, the thermometer has fluctuated between 39 and 40 degrees, but the most critical situation has been recorded in Calabria, with peaks of 44.6 degrees in Torano Scalo in the Cosenza area. The Cosenza area is currently among the worst hit, with 42.5 degrees in Cosenza and 41.7 in San Cosmo Albanese. Conditions are no better in the other provinces of Calabria, where temperatures have generally reached 40 degrees and above.
The situation is also critical in Sicily and Sardinia, with peaks of 43 degrees and felt temperatures much higher than those shown by the thermometer.
Dust from the Sahara Desert is also on its way to the centre-south and the islands, carried by air currents from North Africa.
According to the Health Ministry’s heatwave bulletin, a slight improvement is expected at the weekend, with six cities on red alert (Bari, Catania, Messina, Palermo, Reggio Calabria and Rome), dropping to four on Sunday (Catania, Messina, Palermo and Reggio Calabria).
Also on Friday, the extreme temperatures and hot wind triggered a new emergency on Mount Morrone in Abruzzo. Here, the fire that for 15 days had been the main source of concern in the region, and which until Thursday was thought to be almost extinguished, flared up again, making it necessary to deploy more than one hundred personnel on the ground, including firefighters and volunteers from Civil Protection and the army, according to news agency Ansa.
Northern Italy battered by heavy downpours
The north was instead hit by several showers in the morning, again as a consequence of the extreme heat, with heavy rain and hailstorms over the southern part of Lombardy, particularly in the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, before moving on towards Veneto and Trentino.
Towards evening, thunderstorms are expected to hit Piedmont, the Aosta Valley and northern Lombardy, with rainfall intensifying from early afternoon.
WWF sounds the alarm: the hottest summer ever recorded in western Europe
"The data from this summer are unequivocal. According to Copernicus, June and July together have been the hottest ever recorded in western Europe, a full 2.79°C above the 1991-2020 average and almost 0.9 degrees Celsius above the previous record in 2022. This has affected ecosystems and the lives of millions of people. The melting of Alpine glaciers is transforming high-altitude ecosystems and increasing the vulnerability of mountain areas," WWF said in a statement.
In Italy, the organisation recalled that "over 90,000 hectares of forest have been burned, an increase of 92% compared with the average for the last twenty years over this period (49,000 hectares), with almost a third of the fires in protected areas. Record temperatures, drought, water scarcity and wildfires are also putting wildlife under stress: for this reason WWF has asked the regions to suspend hunting in September".
"Seas and oceans have also recorded record temperatures. According to data supplied by the Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS), the European Union’s Earth observation programme, for the Mediterranean, June 2026 was the hottest June ever recorded. Local anomalies reached extreme peaks of up to 8°C above average. In July, water in some areas exceeded 30°C".(Continued)
