Italian authorities have issued alerts for much of the country as the weather takes a sharp turn for the worse at the end of this week.

The Department for Civil protection issued yellow or amber weather alerts for 14 Italian regions, as “severe” thunderstorms are expected to sweep from north to south over Thursday and Friday.
The sudden change is expected after a mostly warm, dry and sunny start to September in many regions, ending a long and sticky summer during which temperatures regularly climbed into the high 30s or low 40s.
After baking in 30 degrees celsius at the start of this week, the regions of Puglia and Molise are now expected to get the worst of the bad weather.

An orange (moderate) bad weather alert was issued for coastal areas in Molise and the Gargano area in northern Puglia today, where weather forecasts predict high winds, heavy rain, thunder and lightning.

Meanwhile, less severe yellow weather warnings were issued for the rest of Molise and Tuscany, as well as Basilicata, Le Marche, Umbria, Lazio, Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, lower Veneto, most of Piedmont, south-western Tuscany, northern Calabria, and western Sicily.

The sudden change is due to a “cold air front arriving from north-eastern Europe within the last 24 hours, bringing a decided worsening of weather conditions.”