Italy’s heatwave is melting glaciers faster
Glaciers in the Italian Alps are melting faster due to the country’s lingering heatwave, experts have warned.
The persistent high temperatures, which are expected to reach 41 degrees Celsius this week in parts of Italy, are speeding up the melting of glaciers high in the Alps, according to the Aosta-based Foundation for Secure Mountains.
The foundation has been monitoring Le Petit Grapillon on Mont Blanc, Rutor on La Thuile and Grand Vallon Timorion on Grand Paradise, and was cited by Ansa as saying that 2015 will be “a year of great loss of glaciers for the Aosta Valley.”
After a record-breaking July, the latest heatwave is expected to last well into next week, according to 3bmeteo.com.
Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio and Sardinia will be among the hottest regions, while high temperatures will also engulf Rome, Turin, Verona, Trento, Bologna, Florence, Perugia and Nuoro.
A brief respite from the heat late last week was met with violent storms in Tuscany, causing severe flooding in Florence on Saturday.
Read more: Florence mulls refugees for storm clean-up
Over 100 people have died of the heat since the start of July, particulary in the northern Piedmont region.
Other lives have been claimed in Liguria, Tuscany and Sardinia.
The hot temperatures are reminiscent of the summer of 2003, when the whole of Europe was gripped by a heatwave that killed 3,100 people in Italy.
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The persistent high temperatures, which are expected to reach 41 degrees Celsius this week in parts of Italy, are speeding up the melting of glaciers high in the Alps, according to the Aosta-based Foundation for Secure Mountains.
The foundation has been monitoring Le Petit Grapillon on Mont Blanc, Rutor on La Thuile and Grand Vallon Timorion on Grand Paradise, and was cited by Ansa as saying that 2015 will be “a year of great loss of glaciers for the Aosta Valley.”
After a record-breaking July, the latest heatwave is expected to last well into next week, according to 3bmeteo.com.
Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio and Sardinia will be among the hottest regions, while high temperatures will also engulf Rome, Turin, Verona, Trento, Bologna, Florence, Perugia and Nuoro.
A brief respite from the heat late last week was met with violent storms in Tuscany, causing severe flooding in Florence on Saturday.
Read more: Florence mulls refugees for storm clean-up
Over 100 people have died of the heat since the start of July, particulary in the northern Piedmont region.
Other lives have been claimed in Liguria, Tuscany and Sardinia.
The hot temperatures are reminiscent of the summer of 2003, when the whole of Europe was gripped by a heatwave that killed 3,100 people in Italy.
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