The climate of Italy is the long-term rainfall pattern in the home of the Italian Republic. Italy’s climate is influenced by the vast waters of the Mediterranean Sea, which surrounds Italy except to the north. These seas are a reservoir of heat and humidity for Italy. Within the southern temperate zone, a particular climate is determined, called the Mediterranean climate, but with local variations due to the topography of the territory, especially high pressures, which tend to have a moderating effect. conditions.
Due to the duration of the peninsula and the predominantly mountainous hinterland, Italy’s weather could be very diverse. In most of central interior areas and the northern, climates range from humid subtropical to humid continental and oceanic.
The geographical area of the Po Valley has a predominantly humid subtropical climate, with cool winters and hot summers. Liguria, Tuscany, and most of the southern coastal regions generally adhere to the Mediterranean climate stereotype. Especially in winter, there can be large temperature differences between the north and south.
Depending on the winter day, temperatures in Milan can drop to -2 °C and snow, while temperatures in Rome can drop to 8 °C and Palermo to 20 °C. Become. In summer, the temperature difference is not so drastic,
Generality of climate
Italy’s climate is influenced by the vast waters of the Mediterranean Sea, which surrounds Italy except to the north. These seas represent a reservoir of heat and humidity for Italy, and within the southern temperate zone a Mediterranean climate with local differences determined by the topography of the territory, which tends to have a mitigating effect, especially under anticyclonic conditions. there is.
About the weather in seasons
Coastal conditions differ from those inland, especially during the winter months when it is cold, wet, and often snowy at higher altitudes. Coastal regions have mild winters and warm, generally dry summers, while lowland valleys can be quite hot in summer. Average winter temperatures vary from 0°C in the Alps to her 12°C in Sicily.
As a result, average summer temperatures range from 20°C to over 25°C. F. Winters vary greatly across the country, with cold, foggy, and snowy periods in the north and mild, sunny weather in the south. Summers can be hot and humid throughout the country, especially in the south, but northern and central regions can experience occasional severe thunderstorms from spring through fall.
Precipitation in Climate Italy
1. In the south
Summer marks a clear dry season, characteristic of the Mediterranean climate. These include cities such as Naples, Bari, Rome, and Palermo. In the north, precipitation is more evenly dispersed throughout the year, although summer is usually a bit wetter. Between November and March, the Po Valley is usually covered by fog, especially in the central area, while the number of days with minimum temperatures below 0 °C is usually around 60 to 90 per year, with peaks of 100 to 110 days in mainly rural areas.
2. between early December and early March
Snow is fairly common between early December and early March in cities like Turin, Milan, and Bologna, but it sometimes occurs in late November or late March and even April. In the winter of 2005-2006, Milan received about 0.75–0.8 m or 75–80 cm or 100 cm, Brescia 0.5 m .69 in or 50 cm, Trento 1.6 m or 160 cm, Vicenza about 0.45 m or 45 cm, Bologna about 0.3 m or 30 cm and Piacenza about 0.8 m or 80 cm
3. in February, sometime in January or March
Often the heaviest snow falls in February, sometime in January or March. In the Alps, snow falls most in autumn and spring above 1,500 m, as winter is often characterized by cold, dry spells; While much more snow falls in the Apennines in winter, it is warmer and less humid in the other seasons.
In both ranges, up to 5 to 10 m or 500 to 1,000 cm, snow can be seen. It can snow even in midsummer on the highest peaks of the Alps and there are glaciers.
Temperatures of climate
Summer temperatures are often about the same from north to south. Temperatures north of the Po in July range from 22 to 24 °C, as in Milan and Venice, but south of the Po they range from 24 to 25 °C, less thunderstorms than in Bologna. On the coast of south-central Italy and the nearby plains, the average temperature ranges from 23°C to 27°C.
In general, August is the hottest month in the south and July is the hottest month in the north. During these months, the thermometer can reach 38-42 °C in the south and 32-35 °C in the north. At times the country can be split into winter, with rain and daytime temperatures of 20-22 °C in the north and 30-40 °C in the south. But just because the summers are hot and dry doesn’t mean that southern Italy doesn’t get rain from June to August.
Thunderstorms are much more common in the humid north, but they can also occur in the south. Nighttime temperatures can be high in Italian cities due to high humidity during the summer months.
Extreme in climate
- Syracuse, Sicily recorded the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe at 48.8°C.
- The lowest temperature in Italy was -49.6°C, measured on February 10, 2013, in the Alps on the Palais di San Martino plateau in Trentino-Alto Adige. It is -24.8 °C near sea level and was measured on January 12, 1985, in San Pietro Capofiume, Molinella village, Emilia-Romagna. The lowest recorded temperature for any inhabited place is -37.4 °C, measured on 15 February 2012 in Rocca di Mezzo, Abruzzo, in the Apennines.
- The maximum snow depth was measured in March 1951 at the Lago Davino meteorological station in Piedmont, in the Alps, and was 1,125 cm. The maximum 24-hour snowfall of 181 centimeters was recorded on January 15, 1951, in the Apennines in the villages of Sant’Eufemia a Maiella and Rocca Caramanico, Abruzzo.
- Part of the municipality of Lucevera in the province of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the village of Muzi is the wettest place in Italy, with an average annual rainfall of 3,313 mm. The maximum 24-hour rainfall was recorded on 10 September 1970 at Bolzaneto, near Genoa, Liguria, with a value of 948 mm. However, there are many records of daily precipitation exceeding 500 mm throughout Italy.
- In the south of Sicily, a maximum temperature of 46°C was recorded during the hot summer. The three maximum temperature candidates are:
- 47.0°C measured at Foggia, Puglia on 25 June 2007 and 48.5°C at Catena Nuova, Sicily on 10th August 1999. The latter is not official and is generally considered dubious. The official maximum temperature in Europe was 48.0 °C, measured in Athens on 10 July 1977. The 48.8°C recorded in Syracuse, Sicily on August 11, 2021, is the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe, according to an analysis by the WMO.
History of climate change in Italy
as in other parts of the world, Italy has historically been exposed to planetary-scale climate change (glacial, interglacial, little ice age, etc.). The current climate change (global warming) is also affecting Italy.
Especially in the 1960s and 1970s, there was a slight cooling of the climate at the global level (in Europe, the Azores and Russo-Siberian anticyclones dominated), but from the mid-1980s there was a slight cooling. was there once. Since the 2000s, the impact of subtropical high-pressure systems in Africa has increased, and extreme events such as heat waves, alluvial soils, and retreat of alpine glaciers have increased.
