Last year was the hottest and driest year on record in Italy, with its long-term impact exacerbating the dramatic consequences of this year’s extended drought, a joint report by two Italian research institutes has said.
In the report, entitled “Climate in Italy in 2022”, the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) and the National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA) revealed a significant deterioration in the climate conditions compared to 2021 and to previous record temperatures.
The report said that temperatures in Italy last year were on average 1 degree Celsius higher than in 2021, and 0.58 degrees Celsius higher than in 2018, when the previous heat record was registered. It was the hottest year since at least 1961, the first year modern record-keeping methods were employed, the report said.
Temperatures last year were also 1.23 degrees Celsius higher than the average temperature record in Italy between 1991 and 2020, Xinhua news agency reported.
During most of 2022 (10 months), temperatures were higher than average, with the largest spike registered in June, when temperatures were 3.09 degrees Celsius above long-term averages.
The record for June was short-lived, as June 2023 was the hottest June on record globally, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
By global standards, the summer of 2022 was unusually harsh in Italy. While the year was the hottest year on record for the country, 2016 remains the hottest year on record globally, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The eight hottest years on record globally were all recorded in the last eight years, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
Last year was also the driest on record in Italy, according to the “Climate in Italy in 2022” report, with average precipitation being 39 per cent lower than normal between January and July. This slashed agricultural production nationally and left water levels in most of Italy’s main rivers two-thirds or more below normal levels.
While by most standards the current heatwave in Italy is more intense than last year’s, the levels of precipitation have been roughly in line with other recent years due to heavy rainfall between March and May.
Although the overall figures for 2023 are not yet available, the ISPRA-SNPA report expects the impacts of the long, hot and dry summer in 2022 to deepen the impacts of this year’s heatwave by reducing groundwater levels and weakening the resilience of the country’s agricultural sector.
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