The hours are numbered, temperatures dropping by as much as 10 degrees

After endless scorching days and asphyxiating nights, the unbearable heat that has been holding our cities in check since the beginning of July has its hours counted because from next weekend storms and lower temperatures are expected. So, finally, the Ministry of Health's red stickers indicating the cities where health is most at risk from high temperatures, especially for the most fragile, are also being reduced. Thus, of the 27 Italian cities monitored with daily bulletins by the ministry, on 16 August, 17 were marked with a red sticker.

But the sharp drop, thanks to the abrupt climate change, is expected between 17 and 18 August: on Saturday, in fact, the cities that retain the red sticker drop to four (Bari, Brescia, Campobasso and Palermo), 13 go from red to yellow and 4 return to green sticker (Cagliari, Civitavecchia, Genoa, Viterbo); on 18 August, only Bari continues to have the red sticker, 7 cities go to yellow (Brescia, Campobasso, Catania, Messina, Palermo, Pescara, Reggio Calabria), and as many as 19 out of the 27 considered are indicated in green.

While the long-awaited drop in temperatures is more than welcome, there is a risk that cold air arriving from Northern Europe, colliding with the warm air masses over Italy, could cause extreme weather events. Sunny and warm weather is still expected until Saturday 17 August, but a gradual increase in instability is expected starting in the Alpine areas with the first thunderstorms that could extend to the plains of Piedmont and Lombardy. "With the heat the potential energy in play increases due to greater evaporation from the seas and above all the thermal contrasts are particularly exalted creating a deadly mix for the development of imposing thunderstorm cells, up to 10/15 km high," reads the iLMeteo.it website. The result will be the disturbance expected over Italy on Sunday 18 and arriving from Northern Europe, which with its cool and unstable air at altitude will get the better of the African anticyclone.

Bad weather is expected initially over the northern regions and then over a large part of the centre, especially on the Tyrrhenian side as far as Campania. Particularly violent thunderstorms are not to be excluded, with a high risk of hailstorms. Finally, temperatures are expected to drop by up to 10 degrees compared to the past few days, especially in the north and central regions.