Florence weather: history, records, forecasts

Florence weather? The history of the Florentine meteorology is a long one: let’s discover it together, along with some suggestions about weather and weather forecasts in Florence.

Florence weather: Florence, the cradle of… meteorology too!

Tuscany and Florence have a great importance in the development of modern meteorology. Galileo Galilei invented the thermoscope, the Galilean thermometer, in 1607; not a Tuscan (he was born in Rome) but part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany court, Evangelista Torricelli invented in Florence the mercury barometer.

Ferdinando II de Medici is basically the pioneer of modern data collection about weather: he promoted the very first in the world system of meteorological stations, starting data collection in Florence, Cutigliano and Vallombrosa (not far from Florence), Bologna, Parma, Milan, and also Innsbruck, Osnabrück, Paris and Warsaw.

Thanks to Ferdinando, Florence has been the first city in the world to have meteorological data.

The first meteorological station was the Monastero degli Angeli one.

The Osservatorio Ximeniano meteorological data have been collected since 1813. The observatory has a telescope as well and is a seismological station too.

Florence weather: the record… records

According to the huge amount of Florence weather data, the rainiest year in Florence was 1937, being 1894 the driest recorded year. 1895 was the snowiest year.

The highest recorded temperature in Florence city centre was 42.1 Celsius degrees (August 21st, 2011: 107.78F); the lowest −12,9 CElsius degrees (December 30th, 1849: 8.78F).

Florence weather: weather averages, forecasts

The hottest month in Florence is usually July or August; January is the coldest one; November is usually the rainiest month.

Florence is considered a continental climate zone: it is relatively distant from the sea and the concurrence of the river and surrounding hills can amplify the humidity: in July or August you can experience the infamous afa, the muggy weather.

While you can check the real time Florence weather situation on our site, if you are curious about weather data the LaMMA site is a good starting point. From the site of LaMMA, the Tuscan meteorological agency, you can access Tuscan weather collected data since 2003.

LaMMA issues a daily weather bulletin and gives 6-15 days forecast too.

Anyway: bring your umbrella in Autumn, your sunglasses in Summer, enjoy Florence all year long!