Rome, Nov 9 (IANS): Large swathes of northern Italy experienced the hottest October this year since record keeping began in 1800, the country's National Research Council said.

Temperatures reached 3.18 degrees Celsius above normal levels in the northern part of the country, Xinhua news agency quoted the Council as saying.

However, in Italy as a whole, temperatures were high but not record-breaking.

The Council said they were 2.08 degrees Celsius higher than normal, the second-highest increase compared to normal levels, just behind the record of 2.13 degrees Celsius reached in 2001.

The new data comes from Giulio Betti, a meteorologist and climatologist with the National Research Council.

In addition to the high temperatures, much of the country has also suffered from a lack of rainfall, and an increase in extreme weather events including storms, floods, and strong winds.

The record high temperatures in October followed a long and unusually dry heatwave in Italy in the summer months, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and slashed agricultural production.

According to previous reports from the National Research Council, this year is on track to be the hottest ever recorded nationally.