July 2025 was the sixth warmest in the South and Sicily since 1950, and the coolest in the North since 2015: Italy was also split in two by rainfall, which was heavier than normal in the Center-North, and lower than normal for the fifth consecutive year in much of the South and the Islands. This is what data from the Copernicus ERA5 climate reanalysis, segmented along Italy's borders, reveal.

After an exceptionally hot June across Italy, summer 2025 has provided a respite . But unfortunately, not for everyone. July ended with temperatures near or slightly below average in the North , significantly higher than the average in the South and Sicily. These regions, during the third heat wave of the season, had to deal with ten consecutive days of extreme heat and its direct and indirect consequences, such as illnesses, deaths, worsening drought, and fires. Rainfall distribution also split Italy in two, with large amounts of rain falling on the northern and central regions and a serious shortage in much of the South and the islands .

This is what emerges from the processing of data from the climate reanalysis  developed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ( ECMWF ), a tool widely used by the international scientific community to study the Earth's climate and its changes : it combines observations recorded by meteorological stations, weather balloons, buoys, ships, aircraft and satellites using a meteorological model , providing, in the form of global data uniformly distributed on 3D grids , a complete and accurate description of past weather and climate.

We therefore analyse the anomalies (differences between observed data and the climate average of the thirty-year reference period) for July over Italy, obtained by acquiring and processing the monthly temperature and precipitation data from ERA5 and ERA-Land from 1950 to today , available through the Copernicus Climate Data Store .

Air Temperature: South Still Too Hot, North on Hiatus After Ten Years

According to Copernicus ERA5-Land data, the average national land temperature two meters above the surface in July 2025 was 21.99°C: 0.83°C higher than the reference average for the 1991-2020 period and, interestingly, almost a tenth of a degree lower than the average temperature of the previous month. In midsummer, the average temperature was therefore lower than that recorded at the beginning of the season: this was largely due to the month of June, which reached a record high of 22.05°C, an anomaly of 3.53°C compared to its climatic average.

July 2025 was also the 26th consecutive month with a positive anomaly at the national level: since May 2023, the average monthly temperature in Italy has always remained above climatic values . This year, what pushed the national average anomaly for the month of July towards the usual positive values ​​was mainly the third heat wave of the season, extreme and persistent in the South , which culminated on the 22nd and ended abruptly at the end of the month by the significant drop in temperatures associated with the passage of the last two July disturbances.

July Italy climate
Anomalies in the average air temperature at 2 meters from the surface (°C) over the 1991-2020 period, calculated for Italy (mainland only) and for each July from 1950 to 2025. ERA5-Land data. C3S/ECMWF credits. Meteo Expert processing.

Our country thus experienced a July that was warmer than normal on average, but without the excesses that have characterized the last three years and, above all, 2015, the year with the hottest July on record since the middle of the last century . Why? The answer comes from the north.

While the South experienced its sixth warmest July in 76 years , recording an average anomaly of 1.86°C and peaks above 2.5°C in Basilicata and Calabria, the North, hit by 10 disturbances, enjoyed a respite , characterized by slightly below-average temperatures across much of the Lombardy plain, the Triveneto region, and Trentino-Alto Adige, and an average anomaly of +0.15°C, the lowest in the last decade. Between the two geographic and thermal extremes, Central Italy recorded intermediate anomalies: +1.03°C in the peninsular regions, +1.26°C in Sardinia.

July Italy climate
Average air temperature anomaly at 2 meters from the surface (°C) for July 2025 and July 2015 (the warmest since 1950) compared to the monthly average for the reference period 1991-2020. ERA5-Land data. C3S/ECMWF credits. Meteo Expert processing.

The two faces of July 2025 are clearly visible even at high altitude . If we calculate the average altitude at which the air temperature reached 0°C this year and compare it with the average altitude for the reference period 1991-2020, we discover that the so-called freezing level has reached up to 100 meters below normal across the entire North (around 3,700 meters above sea level in the Alps), and even more than 200 meters above average in the South . After the devastation of June, the Alpine glaciers were finally able to breathe a (small) sigh of relief.

July Italy climate
Mean freezing level height and mean freezing level height anomaly (m) compared to the monthly mean of the 1991-2020 reference thirty-year period for July 2025. ERA5 data. C3S/ECMWF credits. Meteo Expert processing.

Sea temperature: July 2025 will be the fourth warmest in the historical series.

According to data from the Copernicus ERA5 climate reanalysis, last July the seas around the Italian coasts (basins between 36-47°N and 6-20°E) reached an average temperature higher than that normally expected in August, the warmest month: 26.49°C, 1.74°C above the July average. This is a highly anomalous figure, although not exceptional for the period, which places July 2025 in fourth place among the warmest July months for seawater , behind 2022 (record +2.09°C), 2015 (+1.99°C), and 2023 (+1.89°C).

July Italy climate
Sea surface temperature anomalies (°C) over the 1991-2020 period for the 36-47°N and 6-20°E regions, for each July from 1950 to 2025. ERA5 data. C3S/ECMWF credits. Meteo Expert processing.

In the record-breaking July of 2022 , surface water temperatures in all western basins reached anomalies above 2°C , with peaks above 3.5°C in the Ligurian Sea and around Sardinia. The Ionian Sea and almost the entire Adriatic Sea recorded less pronounced anomalies, but still no lower than 1.5°C.

This year, things were visibly different: the surface waters of all seas were less warm, even though the temperature anomalies around Sardinia remained decidedly high, even close to +3°C.

July Italy climate
Sea surface temperature anomaly (°C) for July 2025 and July 2022 (the warmest in the historical series) compared to the July average for the reference thirty-year period 1991-2020. ERA5 data. C3S/ECMWF credits. Meteo Expert processing.

If we calculate the average sea temperature anomaly for the first seven months of 2025 (the January-July 2025 anomaly) and compare it with the January-July anomaly of all years since 1950, we find 2025 still firmly in first place in the ranking of the warmest years , followed by 2024.   On land , two meters from the surface, after the "drop" in July 2025, the average January-July air temperature anomaly instead places 2025 in second place, about 2 tenths of a degree behind the record year 2024.

Rainfall in Italy: July 2025: Between excesses (in the Central North) and defects (in the South)

According to Copernicus ERA5-Land data, with an anomaly of +32% , July 2025 was the third wettest of the last 12 years , after the terrible record July of 2014, which saw double the expected rainfall, and July 2021 (+45%). To find a July with the opposite characteristics, and therefore particularly dry, just go back two years: with an anomaly of -50%, July 2023 was in fact the third driest of the entire historical series.

July Italy climate
Precipitation anomalies (%) compared to the 1991-2020 thirty-year period, for the Italian territory (mainland only), for each month of July from 1950 to 2025. ERA5-Land data. C3S/ECMWF credits. Meteo Expert processing.

Like the temperature, the national average rainfall figure for July 2025 also conceals two opposing realities: a rainfall deficit for the fifth consecutive year in the South and Sicily (-41%) and for the sixth consecutive year in Sardinia (-15%), and excess rainfall in the Central North (+39%) after three averagely dry years.

In particular, in the South, the lack of rainfall was particularly severe in Salento, along the Ionian coast of Calabria, and in southern Sicily , while it spared Campania and Tyrrhenian Sicily, which received more water than expected. Excluding Lazio and part of Piedmont, precipitation was excessively heavy throughout the rest of Italy, with particularly significant accumulations (more than double the normal amount) between Romagna and Marche, in northern Tuscany, and in some areas of Lombardy and the Tri-Veneto region . This was nothing compared to the enormous amounts of rain that fell in the cold and disturbed July 2014 in Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, western Lombardy, and Veneto.

July Italy climate
Precipitation anomaly (%) for July 2025 compared to the monthly average for the 1991-2020 reference period. ERA5-Land data. C3S/ECMWF credits. Meteo Expert processing.

After a very hot June and a "cool" July, how will the summer end? Will we be lucky again, or will the upcoming fourth heat wave exacerbate the August temperature anomaly ? See you next time!