Temperatures rising further, 5-6°C more in the next 36 hours: the peak of Minos, the African anticyclone which also brings a lot of desert sand, will unfortunately deliver frequent 40°C temperatures in the Center-South and a lot of heat in the North. Lorenzo Tedici, meteorologist of the website www.iLMeteo.it, confirms the expansion of the African anticyclone Minos up to Bavaria with exceptional heat even beyond the Alps: at the same time, infiltrations of more unstable Atlantic air will cause an increase in thunderstorms in the Alpine regions and marginally also in the adjacent areas of our North-West. He is therefore cautious due to the sharply increasing African heat, but also due to the storms which will be intense in the North by Friday.
In the next few hours, the ranking of the heat of Minos will be seen in first place Foggia with 40°C, silver medal for Carbonia with 39°C, all together on the lowest step of the podium at 38°C we will find Caltanissetta, Matera, Nuoro, Siracusa and Taranto. Also worth mentioning is significant increase in minimum temperatures with the arrival of the ‘Tropical Nights’ (nights with values above 20°C): Cagliari, Milan and Palermo with 23°C! The day of the Solstice (Thursday 20 June) will be even hotter: Taranto 41°C, Benevento, Caserta and Terni 40, widespread 39°C is expected in Sicily and Puglia, 38° even in Florence and Rome together with Matera and Oristano .
Also on Thursday, tropical nights will dominate our dreams, extremely so in Sardinia with minimums between 25 and 28°C; A tropical night with 24°C is also expected in Ancona, as in much of Sicily. In the North, the ‘Saharan’ Milan will be reached by Bergamo and Cremona with a muggy minimum of 23°C. Also noteworthy, for this Summer Solstice 2024, is the arrival of strong storms towards the North-West regions, a first break in the oppressive heat of Minos. Friday will be very hot even at night: in Florence a minimum of between 24 and 26°C is expected (depending on how much cloud cover persists during the night), with 25°C also in the Po Valley: it will be the first real triumph of Italian tropical nights with sweaty sheets. The daytime heat will still be extreme, especially in the South, especially in Puglia, Campania and Sicily with 41°C in Taranto, 40°C in Benevento and Caserta, 39°C between Syracuse and Caltanissetta.
Storms will arrive in the North, even intense ones, which will mitigate the heat, but will be potentially dangerous with gusts of wind and hail. Finally, from the weekend, we will most likely witness the defeat of Minos by a core of cooler air of northern European origin: frequent showers are expected, especially from Sunday onwards and for most of next week, with a gradual drop in temperatures . The last week of June will be eventful with prevailing sun in the morning and strong thunderstorms in the afternoon: a somewhat equatorial climate after the North African heat and the Saharan dust of Minos. (Askanews)
