Overview

• Temperatures above 40 °C continue across southern and central Italy, keeping 20 cities at the highest red-alert level.
• At least four heat-related fatalities have been confirmed in the past 48 hours, including two tourists in Sardinia, an elderly man in Genoa and a truck driver on the A4 in Brescia.
• Overloaded power grids caused blackouts in Florence, Bergamo and Milan as air-conditioner demand spiked.
• Regional authorities from Sardinia to Lombardy have suspended outdoor work between 12:30 and 16:00 and opened public cooling centers to protect workers and vulnerable residents.
• Meteorologists forecast convective thunderstorms moving in by Friday, offering the first significant drop in temperatures since mid-June.