Europe continues to see extremes of weather - from flooding to intense heat and wildfires

Extreme weather continues across Europe, with countries battling intense heat, wildfires, violent thunderstorms and flooding.

At least seven people have died amid heavy storms, floods, and landslides across Slovenia, Austria and Croatia.

Slovenia has registered its worst natural disaster in recent history following intense rainfall which triggered flooding and landslides that cut off villages and disrupted travel across northeastern and central parts of the country. Thousands had to leave their homes to escape the floods. The extreme weather has led to the deaths of at least 6 people in the country, two were Dutch that were struck by lightning, the other four were Slovenians caught up in the flooding.

Parts of Austria have also been hit badly by flooding – particularly in the southern regions of Carinthia and Styria. One woman was reported to have died after falling into a flooded river in the south of the country. In the province of Carinthia 80 major landslides were reported by Sunday afternoon, while in the neighbouring province of Styria, there were 280 landslides reported by Sunday morning.

In Germany, the city of Reutlingen, to the south of Stuttgart in SW Germany, was battered by a severe thunderstorm a few days ago that dropped a foot of hail in some areas, requiring snowploughs to clear it along with 250 firefighters helping in the clear-up. There was also a video of a postman navigating the deep ice on their bicycle to deliver the post.

Further north, Storm Hans moved over Sweden overnight with red weather warnings in place across parts of Norway and Sweden for heavy rain. Flooding caused a train derailment in Sweden, leading to 3 people being hospitalised, while the storm has led to significant travel disruption across parts of Scandinavia. Norway's national emergency alert system was implemented in some parts of the country on Monday, with an alert sent as a text message to mobile phones. A landslide occurred near Adalsveien, 50 km south of the capital Oslo.

The heat has eased across southern Italy and Greece, compared to the intense heat with temperatures in the 40s and destructive wildfires that broke out, much of southern Europe remains hot and tinder dry with no rain for weeks and no rain on the horizon. In Sardinia, where temperatures reached 47C last month, firefighters on Monday were bringing a series of wildfires under control, but were hampered by strong Mistral winds. Around 600 people have been evacuated due to rampant wildfires.

A multinational force is helping Cyprus fight stubborn wildfires in the summer heat, with Lebanon joining Greece and Jordan in sending aircraft to fight a blaze that has scorched miles of mountainous terrain, officials said Monday.

On Sunday, both Slovenia and Cyprus activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism due to the floods and wildfires that are affecting these countries.

This week, an intense heatwave is building across Iberia, as a heat dome builds in from NW Africa – where it’s been extremely hot all summer so far. Today’s highest temperature in Iberia was 44.7C in Badajoz in southwest Spain. Wednesday looks to see the peak of the heat, with temperatures forecast to reach 46C in southern Spain. GFS shows temps widely in the 40s across Iberia on Wednesday. The highest temp on record for the country is 47.4C (117F) recorded in the southern town of Montoro, in August 2021.

Yesterday's max temperatures in Iberia:

Back in the UK, we’ve seen some unseasonably cool and wet weather recently, thanks to being on the cool polar side of the jet stream, but over the next few days the jet stream looks to shift north of the UK, allowing high pressure to build close to the east and southerly flow developing drawing in warm air from France, with temperatures peaking in the high 20s on Thursday. However, the heat will be brief, with a cold front moving in from the west on Friday, bringing in cooler and fresher air from the Atlantic to end the week.