2022 will be remembered as the hottest year in Italy's history. According to the National Research Council's Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, the December temperatures are consistent with the pattern of the first eleven months of the year. The primacy of 2022 applies to both maximum and average temperatures and relates to the time beginning in 1800, that is, when meteorological records started. For the lowest temperatures, however, 2018, which is the second warmest year ever after 2022, set a record. 2016 was the world's hottest year, beating out 2020 and 2019. In Italy, but not only there, but the pattern of these holidays also confirms the oddity: after a very mild and dry Christmas, December 31 and New Year's Eve will feel more like spring than winter. Temperatures of 5-6 degrees above normal, and locally perhaps a few degrees higher, are expected, with no rain. The main exceptions are Liguria and, to a lesser extent, Versilia and Lunigiana, where just the forecast precipitation for New Year's Eve may occur. The only weather risk for the end of the year is fog, which could form in the Po Valley and along the Adriatic coast, but also, to a lesser extent, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The record heat in Italy over the holidays, which is also happening in several other European countries, is "similar" to the frost that has hit the East of the United States in recent days. In fact, the two events are so similar that they are seen as two sides of the same coin. Meteorologists say that these are the results of the so-called jet stream, which is a natural flow of air that goes around the whole planet at an altitude of 9–12 km and moves high- and low-pressure systems.
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