Issued: 0530hrs Thursday 10th November 2016
Duty forecaster: Garry Nicholson

Dry and warm Spain & Portugal

Thursday
High pressure lies south-west of Europe, and also over northern Scandinavia and Russia. Various shallow low pressure systems and fronts affect central countries. A dry and fairly mild day for much of Spain and Portugal, warmest around coasts in the south, highs 17 to 20C. A few showers around coasts in northern Iberia. Dry with sunny spells for Italy. A westerly breeze across the Mediterranean coasts and islands. Persistent rain for the Balkan coastline, including western Greece . Dry around the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean.
Heavy rain for central France, and snow for the western Alps, including much of Switzerland. Showery for north-western France. A pulse of heavy rain extends from the North Sea into the Low Countries later in the day. Cool with scattered wintry showers for Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, 3 to 7C. Largely dry with some sunshine for Poland, Hungary and Romania. A zone of snow and freezing rain spreads north into western Russia, whilst heavy rain affects eastern Ukraine. A few snow flurries across Scandinavia, mainly around coasts, and remaining cold with easterly winds around the Baltic.

Friday
High pressure extends across Iberia and north-western Europe, also southern Scandinavia. Fair and warm for Spain and Portugal, up to 20C in the south. Cloud and patchy rain reaches the far north-west of Iberia later. Fronts brings continued heavy snowfall to the Alps in the early hours, and residual snow may continue much of the day in Switzerland and Austria. Becoming dry for most of France with some sunshine, highs 8 to 14C, warmest west.
Low pressure becomes centred across Italy, bringing areas of heavy showers and thunderstorms. Heavy rain increasingly affects the Balkans. Dry for Greece and much of eastern Europe, although some rain may affect northern coasts of the Black Sea. Some snow and rain for southern Germany and the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, northern Germany, the Low Countries, Poland and southern Scandinavia will be dry and bright, although chilly at 2 to 6C. A few snow showers in western Norway. Dry for Sweden and Finland - temperatures remaining near or below freezing.