2022 was Italy's hottest, driest year on record

A new report has revealed that Italy endured its hottest and driest year on record in 2022, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

The report by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) and the National System for Environmental Protection said that the average temperature was over one degree Celsius above the level of 2021 and 0.58° C higher than the previous record set in 2022.

It added that it was 1.23 °C higher than the average for 1991-2020.

The report, entitled Climate in Italy in 2022, said the temperature was above average every month last year except in March and April.

It said 2022 was the least rainy year since 1961, the most recent year there is complete data for. It said rainfall was 22% down with respect to the average for the 1991-2020 period. Precipitation was a whopping 39% below normal between January and July.

"The anomalies were most pronounced in the North (-33%), followed by the Center (-15%) and the South and Islands (-13%)," ISPRA said.

The long drought that Italy endured last year and for much of the first half of 2023 caused massive problems for agriculture, especially in the north of the country.

Scientists say the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse gas emissions is making extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, supercharged storms, and flooding more frequent and more intense.