Italy sizzles under intense heat wave

(ANSA) - Rome, July 16 - Italy is baking in the hottest heat wave of the summer with air from Africa expected to ratchet up the temperatures and generate more of the steamy breathless conditions Italians call 'afa'.
    "This month will go on record as one of the 'exceptional' ones, as far as temperatures and persistence (of heat) goes," said a researcher from the National Research Council's met office, Bernardo Gozzini.
    The monsoon-like air in Rome and Milan is so sticky it is "like being in Thailand," experts said Thursday - adding that there will be no letup in the torrid tropical temperatures that are threatening the vulnerable and giving people restless nights until at least the end of the month. Meteorologists said the Bel Paese continues to feel the sizzling impact of an African anticyclone that has sent temperatures soaring to nearly 40 degrees across the country, including the islands.
    Experts on Thursday predicted the next couple of days will be the hottest in July.
    Italy's health ministry put the heat risk level to its highest, level 3-red, for 14 cities across the peninsula on Thursday, growing to 22 cities on Saturday.
    Although temperatures topped out at 39 on Wednesday, the level of perceived heat was much higher, as much as 47 degrees in Tuscany, according to a bulletin from the region's Meteorological Laboratory, which said, "We're expecting a boiling weekend".
    Perceived temperatures in Veneto, especially in the plains, felt as high as 42 degrees due to sun exposure and high humidity, although actual temperatures ranged between 36 and 37, seven degrees higher than average.
    In Liguria, a forest fire alert is in force for the entire region due to the elevated temperatures and dry conditions, and the forest service has placed a ban on campfires during the period of high alert.
    The heat is taking its toll on agriculture as well, with cows under stress from the high temperatures drinking nearly double their daily intake of water, and a loss so far of 50 million litres of Italian milk due to the heat wave, 20 million in Lombardy alone.
    Weather experts expect the heat to subside a bit at the beginning of next week, when cooler air from the north will see temperatures drop a few degrees, only to rise again in the days to follow.
    With most people seeking shade during the hottest parts of the day there have been few reports of heat exhaustion, still less deaths among those most at risk - young children, the elderly and those with chronic heart or lung conditions.
    Meanwhile Italian forestry police said they had tackled 60 forest fires on Wednesday as sky-high temperatures turned trees into tinder.
    Campania in southern Italy was the worst-hit region, with forestry police there fighting 22 fires. Calabria tackled 9 fires and Puglia had to deal with 8.
    A total of 268 reports were made to the Italian environmental emergency number 1515 on Wednesday, including 93 regarding fires. Forestry police deployed 293 squads for fighting the blazes and monitoring the country.
    Many of the fires are arson.