Northern Europe is in the midlle of an intense heat wave. Temperatures have regularly reaching the upper 20s and locally exceeding 30 °C for days. We take a look at the situation and outlook for the near future.

Temperatures hit 30 °C as far north as far northern Norway: 30.1 °C in Banak (Norway) at 70.0°N, far inside the Arctic circle.

Maximum temperatures in northern Europe on July 12. Map: Meteociel.fr.

Average daytime highs in July in southern Norway are approximately 21.5 °C. In southern Sweden, July average daytime highs are around 23 °C. The entire region is experiencing temperatures 5-10 °C higher than average for this period, however, the northernmost parts of the region are up to 10 °C above average. Very warm weather is set to continue for the next several days, as temperature anomaly over the region remains between 5-10 °C above average.

3-day temperature anomaly forecast (GFS). Map: Climatereanalyzer.org.

Notably, there has also been some remarkable thunderstorm activity across the region:

Lightning activity over Europe in the past 48 hours. Map: Blitzortung.org.











