Issued: 0530hrs Friday 3rd August 2018
Duty forecaster: Garry Nicholson

Record threatening heat Spain & Portugal

Friday
Slack pressure and very warm conditions across Europe. Plenty of dry and sunny weather. Searing heat, 42 to 45C or above in south-west Spain and Portugal. 33 to 38C across France, hottest toward the south & south-west. Thunderstorms breaking out over the Alps, focused on western areas. A few downpours also for southern Italy and the southern Balkans, including mainland Greece toward the west. Sunny for the Greek islands and also countries surrounding the Black Sea. Broadly dry for central-eastern Europe, from Hungary to Poland and Germany, with isolated thundery showers, highs 30 to 33C. Areas of thundery rain for northern Scandinavia, and bursts of rain too for the mountains of Norway. Sweden and Baltic regions generally dry and hot, 26 to 29C. Fresher toward the far north.

Saturday
Another roaster for Iberia, again into the mid-40s Celsius in Portugal and south-west Spain. Lots of dry weather again across the continent, but a scattering of thunderstorms. The most organised storms focused on the western Alps again by afternoon. Temperatures widely into the 30s Celsius for France, Germany and the Low Countries, although somewhat cooler near the English Channel and North Sea. Broadly dry for south-eastern Europe. A few thunderstorms for eastern Poland and northern Ukraine, and scattered storms for Romania. Fairly unsettled for Scandinavia, with areas of rain or thunder for central Norway and Sweden, and windy in southern areas, including Denmark. Showers for the Baltic states.