FLORENCE, ITALY – The latest, dubbed Caligula, led the ministry of health to issue a red alert early this week for several Italian cities, including Florence, where temperatures were expected to hit more than 40 degrees Celsius. Still, record-keepers say this year’s heat has not beaten the 2003 mark for heat.
As the thermometer remains stubbornly high in much of Italy, energy bills are soaring and the fall harvest is threatened. Consumers are using record amounts of energy to run air conditioners and fans to keep cool, farmers fear they will lose as much as 30% of their crops to drought and the ill and elderly are trapped inside their homes.
“That year in each of the four months between May and August, the recorded temperatures were the warmest since 1800,” says to ANSA Michele Brunetti, an atmosphere specialist at the National Research Council.
That is no comfort to Italian farmers whose losses could reach 1.2 billion euros this year, according to the Italian Confederation of Farmers.
“The poor weather conditions are leading to a generalized decline in production volumes in excess of 25-30%, with peaks of 50% for certain sectors,” says the agricultural organization. Add in rising input and labour costs, and farmers are facing a very difficult time, says the organization. Reductions in wine production are also expected in Tuscany.
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