As of: February 20, 2024, 5:41 a.m
By: Richard Strobl
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Thick smog over Milan on January 5, 2024. (archive image) © IMAGO/Luca Ponti / ipa-agency.net
There is a smog alarm in Italy.
In Piedmont, the rules are sometimes drastic.
But Bologna also warns about fine dust.
Milan – Italy is currently suffering from enormous levels of smog.
Thick fog has settled over cities like Milan and Bologna.
The current situation has gone so far that private companies are comparing Milan with cities such as Delhi or Dhaka based on fine dust levels, as Repubblica
reports
.
Because of the current situation, fine dust alarms have been triggered in Italy and mandatory measures have even been decided in some parts of the country.
For the fourth day in a row, the fine dust limits in Lombardy have been exceeded in many provinces.
This means that level 1 anti-smog measures now come into force in nine out of twelve of the region's provinces.
Smog over Italy's north: government intervenes
On weekdays (7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.) there is a driving ban for vehicles with emissions class up to Euro1 for gasoline engines and up to Euro4 for diesel engines in communities with more than 30,000 inhabitants, as Ansa
reports
.
In addition, open fires are prohibited and the use of wood stoves is prohibited up to a three-star pollutant rating.
In addition, residential buildings and businesses may not be heated to a room temperature of more than 19 degrees.
The provinces affected are Monza, Como, Bergamo, Brescia, Mantua, Milan, Cremona, Lodi and Pavia.
But it's not just in Lombardy that people are suffering from bad smog levels.
There is also thick, unhealthy fog over Bologna.
The resulting poor visibility led to major accidents in the region.
“Don’t go jogging,” warns a meteorologist from the Arpae regional environmental protection agency.
He tells
Repubblica
that there are “terrible air quality values . ”
The meteorologist continued that he could not remember ever having seen pollutant levels as high as they are now.
Fine dust alarm in Italy: Will the change in the weather help?
In Italy people are now hoping for an imminent change in the weather.
Rain and snow could clean the air and wind could also blow away pollutant concentrations over cities.
That's the forecast.
In the long term, however, there is an urgent need to reduce emissions in the region.
“The measures to improve air quality in Lombardy will be continued,” emphasized Giorgio Maione, the regional councilor for the environment in Lombardy, and is positive despite the current situation.
According to experts telling
Repubblica,
the region around the Po Valley is particularly at risk from poor air quality because it is in a kind of basin from which pollutants have difficulty escaping under certain climatic conditions.