Italy will have to endure another week of intense heat, especially in central and southern Italy and Sardinia, one of its top forecasters said Monday.

“Maximum temperatures will range between 39°C and 41°C across many areas of central and southern Italy and across all of Sardinia,” says Federico Brescia, meteorologist for iLMeteo.it.

The mercury will reach 30°C in Sardinia, even at the reference altitude of 1,500 meters.

“Such warming,” Brescia comments, “will push the freezing level to extraordinary levels, ready to exceed 5,000 meters.” In Florence, the thermometer will reach 39°C, in Rome 38°C.

Northern Italy will experience hot and muggy conditions, with the Po Valley reaching 37-38°C in the afternoon, although the heat will be slightly less intense than in the southern regions.

Medium-term weather simulations show no signs of an end to the heatwave over the course of the week.

The only notable exception will be between Friday and Saturday, when a temporary and slight weakening of the northern edge of the high pressure system will favor a slight drop in temperatures in the North, associated with a few localized thunderstorms.

In the rest of the peninsula, sunshine and static weather will remain the main protagonists.

In the South: increasing sunshine and heat.

– Tuesday the 14th. In the North: sunny and hot; some showers in the eastern Alps. In the Center: sunny and very hot. In the South: sunny everywhere.

– Wednesday 15th. In the North: hot and sunny. In the Center: sunny with abnormally hot weather. In the South: sunny and exceptionally hot, with peaks of 41°C, especially in Sardinia.

– Outlook: more unstable weather in the North over the weekend, abnormally hot weather in the Center-South.