The year 2018 was the hottest year since 1800 for Italy. With an anomaly of 1.58 °C above the average period 1971-2000 it exceeded the previous record registered in 2015 (+1.44 °C above average period).

Apart from the months of February (with a negative anomaly) and March (on average compared to the reference period), all the other ten months of 2018 recorded positive anomalies and nine of them registered more than 1°C compared to the average period.

The months of January was the second January warmer from 1800 to today with an anomaly of +2.37 °C compared to the average, while April was the hottest since 1800, with an anomaly of +3.50 °C compared to the average period. Considering the last 220 years of climatic history in Italy, the anomaly of 2018 confirms that climate change has a significant impact on our country. In fact, among the 30 warmest years since the 1800s, 25 were registered after 1990.

2018 was also the warmest year since the beginning of the observations available for France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

For more information visit http://www.isac.cnr.it/climstor/climate_news.html

Michele Brunetti, CNR-ISAC