Weather SICILY – It’s the hottest day ever in Palermo: RECORD peaks of 47°C « 3B Meteo

UNPRECEDENTED HOT IN PALERMO – The July 24, 2023 officially enters the climate history of Palermo: all districts of the Sicilian capital recorded maximum temperatures between 45 and 46°C, with an extreme peak of +47.0°C at the “Giuseppe Salvatore Vaiana” Astronomical Observatory in the historic Palazzo dei Normanni. It’s about the highest temperature ever observed in the city for over two centuries, i.e. since the beginning of the historical series started in 1797. Beating the previous record by more than two degrees (+44.8°C in August 1999).

The exceptionality of the event – of a historical nature also on a synoptic scale for large sectors of the Mediterranean – is favored by subsidence impressed by the geopotential maxima of the subtropical anticyclone, by a further intensification of the influx of air masses from the Sahara desert (up to 29-30°C in free atmosphere at 850 hPa) and frominteraction between the southern currents and the orography of the Palermo mountains.

Ostro, Libeccio and Scirocco winds which will determine, moreover, the persistence of extraordinarily high temperatures even during the next nightalso destined for the annals: fed by foehnat the mouth of the valleys and along the Tyrrhenian coast we expect values ​​constantly above the threshold of 35-37°C.

The stations of Palermo Boccadifalco (+46°C), Punta Raisi (+44°C), Ustica (+42°C) e Trapani-Birgi (+42°C). The extreme heat does not spare even the hinterland of Catania and the province of Syracuse: some districts of the Etna city recorded peaks of 45°C before the entrance of the Ionian breezes; tips of 47-48°C they are recorded in the Noto and Floridia area, already holder of the European record (+48.8°C, August 2021).

Extreme and potentially record-breaking thermal peaks are also expected tomorrow, Tuesday 25 July. Following, between Wednesday and Thursdaywetter and temperate currents of Atlantic origin will bring the Sicilian summer back on tracks more suited to the Mediterranean climate with a thermal drop quantifiable in 10-15°C less than today’s values.

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