Italy Braces for 'Peak Heat' as Nearly Every Major City Placed Under Red Alert

Italy is the latest country to come under pressure from an intense heat wave. Warnings were in place for 16 Italian cities on Wednesday, including Rome, Florence, and Bologna, noting that skyrocketing temperatures would be dangerous for all age groups.

A “heat dome” of stagnant high pressure has trapped heat across Southern Europe, driving temperatures above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday. In the southwestern islands of Sardinia and Sicily, temps got even higher, hitting 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius).

Italian media has dubbed the heat wave “settimana infernale” - or "week of hell" and it has already claimed several lives.

South of Rome on Wednesday, the wet-bulb temperature, or the coldest temperature a living organism can reach using evaporative cooling methods like sweating, was 84 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius), nearing the upper limit at which humans can be active outdoors for any period of time. A day prior, Rome set a new record high of 107.24 degrees Fahrenheit (41.8 Celsius).

Italian meteorologists are warning that the worst is yet to come, and that Italy may break the temperature record for Europe of 119.84 Fahrenheit (48.8 Celsius) - a record itself set in the Italian city of Syracuse in August 2021.

In the poorer south, where temperatures are higher, air conditioning is also less common. Two elderly people were found dead in their homes in the Sicilian city of Palermo on Tuesday.

Sergio Ciresi, a Catholic priest who runs the Caritas charity in Palermo, told reporters the heat was "making people more impatient and short-tempered.”

"In the last few days we noticed people getting angry a lot more easily, and starting fights with each other," he said.

A study published earlier this month, researchers estimated that the excessive heat last summer was responsible for more than 60,000 deaths across Europe.

Spain and Greece are experiencing similar hot weather, with the Acropolis, one of Athens’ biggest tourist destinations, being closed for safety reasons. South of the Greek capital, wildfires are raging out of control, drawing international fire fighting forces in an attempt to quell the blazes. Wildfires also displaced thousands on Spain’s Canary Islands, which sit off the coast of Morocco.

In North America as well, weeks of record-high heat has created perilous outdoor conditions and fanned wildfires, the smoke from which has choked the skies across the continent.

Italy has been the unfortunate location for lots of extreme weather this year. Torrential rains in May caused extensive flooding and damage in the mountainous central provinces and killing more than a dozen people.