Issued: 0530hrs Wednesday 24th October 2007
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Periods of rain through southern Europe, but drier to the north

Today
Rain this morning for the southern half of Portugal, this rain moving into the south of Spain this afternoon. Northern Iberia should be dry with some sunny spells here. Across France it will be breezy and rather cold, but at least the weather should stay dry here. For the Low Countries and much of Germany the day is going to be rather cloudy. There will be some spots of drizzle here and there, but generally conditions should be fine.
For Poland the weather is likely to be rather cloudy and breezy too with drizzly here, more especially to the south. The low cloud and drizzle continues through Austria and Hungary and will be affecting some parts of Switzerland as well.
For Italy there will be showers or rain, with this tending to be concentrated in the northwest, where some of the rain could be heavy at times. Heavy showers through the former Yugoslavia, and some heavy showers also affecting much of Greece and Turkey.
For Bulgaria and Romania the day should be fine and dry with some good spells of sunshine, although northern Romania may be wet with heavy rain here. This rain also affecting the Ukraine, but Belarus should be staying dry.
Across the Baltic states the weather is going to be staying generally dry and cool, with the cold weather continuing through Finland. Sweden and Norway are both likely to be mainly dry, although rain may affect the north of Norway.

Thursday
Drier weather and some sunny spells in Portugal today and most of Spain. However, eastern coasts of Spain will still suffer from plenty of cloud and further outbreaks of rain. For France the day should be dry and bright with sunny spells coming through, although for the Low Countries there will be more cloud and a risk of some drizzle here and there.
Variable cloud through Germany, with thicker cloud and periods of rain pushing into Poland, this heavy in central and southern areas of the country. Staying cloudy and drizzly over the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as northern Austria and Hungary. Switzerland should be dry with some sunny spells.
For most of Italy cloud will increase in the afternoon with heavy rain in the west later, spreading east through the day. The former Yugoslavia should be dry, as will be Greece and Crete with sunny spells here. A few showers in western Turkey, whilst Bulgaria and Romania stay dry with more sunshine here throughout the day. The Ukraine will have some cloud and periods of rain, with Belarus mainly dry.
For the Baltic States conditions stay dry with more sunshine here, and it will be remaining dry for Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, although stronger winds and some rain is likely around northern Norway.