Another Hot Week For Western Europe

August 31,2013; 7:20PM,EDT

 

 

The end of the weekend and early next week is shaping up to be very similar to past weeks with the warm air to continue over western Europe.
Saturday was a refreshing break from the hot weather for at least northern Europe, as London, England is possibly seeing its first below-normal day in almost a month. The hot weather looks to come back already by Sunday, and will lead to yet another week of above-normal temperatures.
Since the beginning of July, there have only been 2 days below normal for London, and that same heat has been seen across the entire western part of the continent, as Paris, France is nearly 2 degrees C (3.4 degrees F) above normal since July 1, and looking even further south, Madrid, Spain, has seen temperatures average over 3 degrees C (6.5 degrees F) since the start of July.
This heat has all been from a strong high pressure area that has set up over Europe, pushing most of the storms well to the north of England and Ireland. Spain and Portugal have seen some fires around as the strong high pressure has kept it quite dry. Madrid saw 0.02 inches of rain in July, and only 0.25 inches of rain in August. Though this is the typical dry period, this is well below normal even for now.
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Europe Weather Center
London, England Forecast
Madrid, Spain Forecast
The weak cold front over northern Europe helped to bring a cooler day for Saturday and likely again on Sunday. From Sunday to Monday, however, the high in London will climb from 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) to 24 degrees C (76 degrees F), and we could see highs in the middle 20s C (lower 80s F) for Wednesday and Thursday with a strong high pressure building in from the south.

Photo courtesy of Photos.com
It looks like temperatures will try and drop a bit for the end of the week and into the weekend as a front moves through, but that cooler weather could be delayed with such a strong high pressure in control of the weather. Either way, the cooler weather will be welcome to many as this long and hot summer seems to continue into the beginning of September.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert