The summer of 2018 has been a remarkable one across Europe with "highest temperature" and "lowest rainfall" records being broken in many areas.
Exceptional heat has stretched across every corner of the continent, with much of northern Europe experiencing less than 20 percent of normal May-July rainfall.
Only the Mediterranean and Balkans have seen wetter-than-normal weather; in the cases of Greece, Romania and western Turkey, more than twice the normal rainfall.
In the latest twist, the extreme heat across the Iberian Peninsula, which resulted in the highest temperature ever recorded in Lisbon and a host of highest minima records, is finally receding. Unfortunately, it leaves behind a trail of wildfires that authorities are still struggling to control.
Yet the heat is merely transferring eastwards and northwards, as a plume of exceptionally warm air becomes established from Eastern France to Western Russia, extending into northern parts of Scandinavia.
Temperature records are again under threat in many areas, particularly across Denmark, Germany and southern Scandinavia.
Change is on the way, however, as cooler weather will push into western areas. As this air slowly spreads eastwards, the boundary between the hot air and cooler air will result in some spectacular thunderstorms.
By Friday most countries from Poland westwards will be in the cooler air and although temperatures will generally be around the mid-August average, there will be at least a temporary respite from the extreme heat.
