All well and good for Western Europe but I'm off to Bulgaria next week. Last year the same week was 24-26C and sunny every day apparently. Current forecast is for 14-16C and thundery showers every day. just what you want on an outdoor holiday - not!

Well as expected a detrimental left field forecast is always accurate when it's what you don't want and wrong when it's what you do want! Anyway arrived in Sofia and it as 10C and raining a bit. Record low day max's i think. New snow on the mountains after a snowless winter which wrecked their skiing industry. Then it improved gradually, creeping up each day but with almost continuous grey skies with just the odd glimpse of the sun when temperatures crept up to 20C. Never a breath of wind. In fact the weather was ideal for walking and the bird watching tour and any warmer would have been oppressive. Shame not to see the beautiful Pirin and Rhila Mountains in clear blue skies though and my astro photography intentions were scuppered. Still could have been worse - could have gone to N.E  Italy which is not so far away from SW Bulgaria.

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Worth keeping tabs on the continent now. I think this summer is going to shape up as one special.
 

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Some record breaking heat starting to show its hand in Europe now. Corsica had its hottest ever June day today 41.6c.

Could be some more records over the next week or so as a significant heatwave develops over southern and central Europe. 
 

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The Polish Institute of Meterology as issued a heat warning in force yesterday to Friday for southern Poland, now topped up with a thunderstorm watch, and flood warnings for local rivers.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/pl/krakow/274455/weather-warnings/274455  
 I shall be staying in that area next week, but it should be pleasantly cooler by then.

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Madeira recorded 39.1c yesterday which is the hottest ever temperature in any month for the islands.
 

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As the UK continues its descent into mid-summer mediocrity (at best), the heat is looking like building across much of Southern Europe. GFS models are showing widespread extreme temperatures in about a week's time across parts of Spain, Italy, Greece, Balkans and Turkey. Much of South Eastern Europe looks like joining in too, although less extreme. The latest GFS Ops run is at the top end but quite a long hot spell looks on the card in these regions. 

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There's some serious heat in southern Europe atm. Talk of over 45C in southern Italy.

 

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We heard from our Italian relations in Rome this week. 30degC indoors with air con + 2 fans!

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My daughter's on holiday in Skiathos at the moment. Apart from sitting watching my phone constantly in a state of anxiety, I have noticed the weather. Seems it only made 28 yesterday with a breeze off the Aegean. Athens I think was 12 or so degrees hotter!

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Heatwave in Southern Europe expected to intensify.

:-( Talk of 48C in some places.
 

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I’m far from a conspiracy theorist, but during this spell of ‘mid-40c’ temperatures, every time  I have checked current obs on the iPhone app, the temps have ranged from 28-38 (Spain / Sardinia)? 
There is also a bizarre trend for the media to report ground temperatures instead of 2m temperatures during this spell. 

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I’m far from a conspiracy theorist, but during this spell of ‘mid-40c’ temperatures, every time  I have checked current obs on the iPhone app, the temps have ranged from 28-38 (Spain / Sardinia)? 
There is also a bizarre trend for the media to report ground temperatures instead of 2m temperatures during this spell. 

I've noticed that also, it seems like they are showing the temperatures at the very extreme end of the scale of what might be possible in a few isolated places rather than what will be experienced by the majority of people. When I've been checking the forecasts on the Met office app for example most places seem to be showing high 30s maybe low 40s, I don't think many places have been getting to the 46/47c they have been reporting.

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Yes I’ve noticed much the same. Go to this site https://www.ventusky.com/roma  and you’ll notice that the Med looks warm to very hot but when you look at the current temp for a location like Rome, it’s currently 33C. It has to be a reasonable accurate gauge because when you look at the UK you'll notice the current temps are near enough correct at least for my location, which is about 19C as I type.

It’s quite a localised area in the deep reds as I type and of course not in the hottest part of the day.
But I’ve struggled to find widespread places in the extreme upper temps reported recently when I’ve looked. So I can only guess that the media is picking the extremes and then generalising for the region. A layman from reading these reports could be forgiven for assuming everywhere in the Med is at the 47C mark. FWIW Sicily seems to be centre of the hot spot right now.

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FWIW, the heat has moved east again - the media are always a day or two out of date.
 
There are some 40s around in Italy at the moment,

https://www.xcweather.co.uk/IT/observations

and the  forecast for Sicily is about as hot as you'll ever see in Europe:

https://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/sigonella 

The really extreme heat is not geographically widespread in Europe at the moment though.

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FWIW, the heat has moved east again - the media are always a day or two out of date.
 
There are some 40s around in Italy at the moment,

https://www.xcweather.co.uk/IT/observations

and the  forecast for Sicily is about as hot as you'll ever see in Europe:

https://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/sigonella 

The really extreme heat is not geographically widespread in Europe at the moment though.

42.9C in Rome.

 

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42.9C in Rome.

 

It was 35°C the last time I checked?

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I’m far from a conspiracy theorist, but during this spell of ‘mid-40c’ temperatures, every time  I have checked current obs on the iPhone app, the temps have ranged from 28-38 (Spain / Sardinia)? 
There is also a bizarre trend for the media to report ground temperatures instead of 2m temperatures during this spell. 

Seen a few articles both in BBC, The Times and others about "Should I cancel my holiday?".   Nobody really said "No don't be silly. " 
Reality is that if you are staying in most coastal location (as many people will be), the heat is much moderated by the sea so in most cases people shouldn't be getting that worried.  The articles could do to state that. 

I am going to Florence and Pisa in August and would like it to be a bit cooler though as they are inland, especially Florence.  But looking at some records,  the Max has been 38c in Florence and 34C in Pisa this July (and west of Pisa on the coast a bit cooler I imagine), which is lower than I thought, i would have thought it would have been in the low 40's. 
 

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the Max has been 38c in Florence and 34C in Pisa this July
 

Back around 1991 I went on holiday to Rome, Florence and Sorrento, during the school holidays (as I was only 11). It was 38 in Rome, 37 in Florence and stinkingly humid too. I know we went to the Colosseum, the Forum and Pompeii, but all I remember was all of us sweating buckets... most unpleasant.

Sorrento sucked, but that wasn't because of the weather, rather the crappy Hotel Bristol. (Singing waiters, inedible food, and my single room through a tunnel in an annex with an elephant-footed woman stomping around all night every night above me... oh, and the view was of a sheer cliff face around a foot away from the window.)

The wise have always gone to the Med in May, it's never a good idea to visit those places in July and August unless you have a very high heat/humidity tolerance!

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Back around 1991 I went on holiday to Rome, Florence and Sorrento, during the school holidays (as I was only 11). It was 38 in Rome, 37 in Florence and stinkingly humid too. I know we went to the Colosseum, the Forum and Pompeii, but all I remember was all of us sweating buckets... most unpleasant.

Sorrento sucked, but that wasn't because of the weather, rather the crappy Hotel Bristol. (Singing waiters, inedible food, and my single room through a tunnel in an annex with an elephant-footed woman stomping around all night every night above me... oh, and the view was of a sheer cliff face around a foot away from the window.)

The wise have always gone to the Med in May, it's never a good idea to visit those places in July and August unless you have a very high heat/humidity tolerance!

September is nice too, with the less intense sun but almost guaranteed warmth.  Went to Rome/Sorrento about 10 years ago in September and it was very pleasant for both beach and sightseeing. 

Yes July/August less than ideal especially these days, but first year I have through necessity had to go in the school holidays  having a school aged child and wanting to go away for more than a week.
 

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September is nice too, with the less intense sun but almost guaranteed warmth.  Went to Rome/Sorrento about 10 years ago in September and it was very pleasant for both beach and sightseeing. 

Yes July/August less than ideal especially these days, but first year I have through necessity had to go in the school holidays  having a school aged child and wanting to go away for more than a week.
 

Yes, September would be a fair bit mellower. Early August, as I think it was when we went, was stifling. Good luck joining the hordes, I think most of us have been there either as a kid (in my case) or as parents! 

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