Despite its cool start, this July turned out to be one of the hottest in the past 30 years for the intensity, duration and widespread nature of its heat waves, experts said on Tuesday.
"The first ten days were relatively cool, although not far from the average for that period. Then around the middle of the month the heat moved with the arrival of a North African high pressure system," observed the head of the Epson Weather Center, Mario Giuliacci.
"By the end of the month, the average for the month was 32.8 degrees centigrade, the third highest in three decades, with a high of 34.7 degree on July 24, the hottest for a day in July in the past 30 years," he added.
The monthly average included Bari matching its 1998 record of 45 degrees, while record July highs were set in Brindisi (44 degrees), Pescara (44), Ferrara (40) and Verona (38).
Temperatures dipped slightly at the very end of month, with the arrival of an Atlantic front, and Giuliacci predicted that August should not be as hot as July.
