Well Madrid (Gatafe Airport) managed to top out at 40.0C (104F) Monday afternoon making for the hottest June day in history. While very warm with 30C in London yesterday, it’s already well past that as of 10am. Heathrow is reporting a rather impressive 32.5C already and the July record set in 2006 of 36.5C may be under threat this afternoon. As for Paris, well that may top 40C today!

Somewhere in Scotland could hit 31C for the first time in 12 years.

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This upper wind stream chart shows beautifully the heat ridge over western Europe. The deep tro0ugh out over the Atlantic is acting as a heat pump!

 

While much of the focus is on the heat, potentially severe thunderstorms are likely to expand north from France into the UK late this afternoon into the evening. The front that’s part responsible for driving African air all the way to Scotland has been edging closer in recent days hence the rise in temperature and humidity but this and it’s energy running along with push in and over the building heat underneath, triggering flooding downpours and storms with dramatic lightning, gusty winds and hail all a given. These as always are hit and miss but I suspect they gain more coverage as the evening wears on over Northern England and Scotland.

This ultimately snaps this TWO DAY HEAT WAVE over the Northern UK.

As for the Southern UK, temps peg back tomorrow from a possible 36C today to 26-28C tomorrow but it gets right back up to near 30C Friday. In terms of the long duration heat and humidity, it’s really inland France, Low Countries into Germany which suffer well into next week.

Ok, so there’s not just 1 but 2 systems set to cross the UK over the upcoming 72 hour period. The first as you know arrives later today, bringing not just showers and storm to many, particularly across the North but it heralds the return to fresher oceanic air, removing the hot, humid continental.

Once system one clears into the North Sea, high pressure rebuilds and we see a rise in temperature again UK-wide Friday afternoon with near 30C in the Southeast, possibly 25C in Highland Scotland but system 2 arrives Friday evening with another front sweeping this time from SW to NE bringing another round of heavy thunderstorms and potentially flooding downpours.

Once this passes, conditions turn somewhat cooler across the West, Northwest but it stays warmer across the Southern UK but more typical of early July at 24-27C. It looks to remain hot over mainland Europe.

Good thing is, for those not liking the heat, fresher air does make a return to Northern Britain and Ireland first, then much of England and Wales into next week.

See this morning’s video for the discussion.

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