Issued: 0530hrs Wednesday 27th July 2016
Duty forecaster: Garry Nicholson

Thundery central & eastern Europe

Wednesday
High pressure south-west of Europe promotes continued hot weather across Spain and Portugal. Small risk a thundery shower over the Pyrenees. Staying hot too across the Mediterranean, but a few thunderstorms scattered across Italy, the Balkan states and mainland Greece . The Greek Islands and areas around the Black Sea will be dry and hot.
Warm and dry in southern France, but cloudy in the north, with drizzly rain developing, which spreads east to the Low Countries and Denmark as fronts move across the North Sea. Thundery rain widespread across the Alps, eastern Germany plus the Czech Republic, Slovakia and south-west Poland.
High temperatures and humid conditions continue to affect eastern Europe, widely into the 30s Celsius. Scattered thunderstorms for Hungary and Romania. In Scandinavia, rain will set in for western Norway. Mainly dry and warm in Sweden and Finland, highs 23 to 26C. Some rain in the far north.

Thursday
Low pressure lies to the north-west of Europe, whilst high pressure resides close to the Azores. Fronts passing east across northern areas bring some rain and thunder, but fresher temperatures to the north-west, whilst the east and south remains hot.
Spain and Portugal will see temperatures soar again, into the 30s on the Costas, but some inland and western areas will top 40C. Hot and thundery for Italy and the Balkan countries. Dry overall for Greece, the Aegean and areas near the Black Sea.
Largely dry for France with some warm sunshine in the south, although fresher in the north with a westerly breeze for Brittany and English Channel coasts. Showery conditions for Germany and the Low Countries, locally thundery. Areas of thundery rain move east across Poland and Slovakia, whilst the Czech Republic and Hungary may escape largely dry. A mix of sunshine and slow moving showers for Scandinavia, feeling fresh for Norway, and also less hot for Baltic regions at 22 to 24C.