Issued: 0530hrs Friday 25th May 2012
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Showers through central Europe, some of them heavy and thundery

Friday
Western parts of Europe will be settled and dry with plenty of warm, summery sunshine. So dry and sunny from Spain up through France into England and across into Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Germany. It becomes a bit cooler but it remains dry and sunny across Austria, Poland, the Baltic States, Belarus, and up through Russia and Finland.
Quite windy still. Southern parts of Norway will be dry with long sunny spells but there is a risk of showers across northern Norway and these extend across Sweden, but also will be interspersed with some sunny intervals.
Heavy showers with scattered thunderstorms are forecast across the Alps and across southern parts of Italy and eastward across the Czech Republic, the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece and much of Turkey. Most of Romania, and western parts of the Ukraine will be dry with sunny spells with heavy rain across eastern parts of the Ukraine.

Saturday
A showery day through northwest Portugal and the north of Spain where some of the showers could be heavy and thundery at times. There will be further showers affecting the west of France too. Southern and eastern Spain should be hot, although an odd thunderstorm may form here later.
Much of France, away from the west coast, will be sunny and warm. It should be warm and sunny across the Low Countries and Germany too, with more sunshine and dry weather in Poland and Hungary. The chance of a shower forming in parts of Austria and Switzerland.
Northern Italy is at risk from catching a shower too, but for the majority of the country the day should be dry with plenty of sunshine. High pressure brings more sunshine in Greece today, with lots of fine and warm west in southern Turkey. Northern Greece and northern Turkey seeing heavy showers.