Ravenna, August 23, 2026 – About ten days before the end of the meteorological summer (the astronomical one will be concluded on September 23), we asked meteorologist Pierluigi Randi, president of the Association of Professional Meteorologists, to provide an assessment of one of the hottest and most humid seasons ever.
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Randi, do you think that by next August 31 we will have left behind one of the hottest summers of all time?
“Considering June, July, and August, the hottest summer was that of 2003, followed by 2024 and 2012. However, if we consider the average temperatures recorded in the province up to last Friday (August 20, editor’s note), the current one is, at 27.5 degrees, the hottest ever, registering half a degree more than that of 2003. Of course, we will have to wait until the end of the month, but in light of another, albeit brief, ‘flare-up’ expected next weekend, everything suggests that this summer will be recorded as the hottest in the last 126 years.”
Is there a difference between the summer of 2003 and those of the last 10-15 years?
“The summer of 2003, which was completely off the scale, was however isolated, in the sense that in the years immediately before and after, summers were still hot, although not at those levels. In these 15 years, however, we have had several summers very similar to that of 2003, such as in 2012, 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2024, testimony to the global warming we are unfortunately experiencing.”
Going back a few decades, what average summer temperatures were recorded?
“In the period 1961-1990 they were 22.4°, while in the following thirty years (1991-2020) the average rose to a solid 24 degrees. In the period 2021-2025 it further increased to 25.3°, which is enormous.”
A scenario also evidenced this summer by the numerous ‘tropical nights’, that is, those in which the minimum temperature does not fall below 20 degrees…
“Certainly. Considering the largest urban centers, we went from an average of 25 in the thirty years 1991-2010, to over 50 until last August 16, with a peak of as many as 57 in Ravenna.”
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Is there any other indicator that gives an idea of this scorching summer?
“To give an idea, in the ten summers from 1971 to 1980 the temperature exceeded 35 degrees nine times. About thirty years later, if we consider the ten summers from 2011 to 2020, the days with temperatures above 35 degrees were as many as 145. But the even more striking data concerns the five summers of the period 2021-2026, which recorded 147 days with values equal to or above 35 degrees, surpassing the peak of the ten summers of the previous decade.”
“In the 70s, temperatures went above 35 degrees 9 times. Between 2021 and 2026, instead, there were 147 days”
And considering only the current summer?
“From June 1 to August 20, taking Faenza (Torricelli Observatory) as a reference, the days with maximum temperatures equal to or above 35 degrees have already been 51. In short, numbers outside of any ‘logic’.”
Chapter rain…
“The summer of 2026 is recording a precipitation deficit between 20 and 25%. Nothing to do with the summer of 2012, which was by far the driest with just 35 millimeters of rain in three months, corresponding to a deficit of over 70%.”
What was the maximum temperature this summer?
“In Albereto di Faenza on August 4, 40.8 degrees were reached, followed on the same day by Faenza with 40.4°.”
Will it still be hot in the coming days?
“After the thunderstorms, temperatures returned to normal, with lows around 16 degrees and highs around 29°, and will remain so for a few days. From Friday to Sunday there will be a new, albeit brief, ‘flare-up.’ Then it will return to normal.”
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