Issued: 0530hrs Tuesday 1st April 2008
Duty forecaster: John Ejdowski

Gusty winds and heavy rain for northern Europe

Today
A windy day with rain sweeping away from England and into the Low Countries. After a dry morning it turns rainy too across northern parts of France and Germany, becoming heavy across Belgium and Denmark in the afternoon. A few scattered showers will fall across the former Czech Republic and the Alps but some sunshine too. Fine and dry with sunny skies across Portugal, Spain into the south of France and Italy although the extreme south western tip of Italy could catch a thunderstorm.
A belt of heavy rain will spread into Norway and later Sweden with a mainly dry day across Finland. Morning mist clears to sunny spells for Poland, the Baltic States and Russia. An area of showers will move up from the Ukraine into Belarus. Fair and dry for much of eastern Europe with a dry day across Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece and western Turkey.

Wednesday
Windy across the United Kingdom with rain sweeping away from England and spreading into the Low Countries, France and Germany. This should clear northern parts of France and Belgium in the afternoon. The far south of France will be fair and dry. Lots of heavy showers will affect Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland. A narrow band of rain is expected to move up into southern parts of Norway and Sweden with sunny spells and a few showers across Finland. High pressure will keep the Baltic States, Belarus and Russia fine and dry. Rather wet across the Alpine Region, the former Czech Republic and Romania with out breaks of rain and showers. A heavy spell of showery rain is forecast across the former Yugoslavia with showers across northern Italy. A lot of fine, sunny weather will prevail across Iberia, the Balearics into the south of Italy Very unsettled for the eastern Mediterranean with an area of heavy, thundery rain across southern Greece and southern Turkey. A few showers will affect Bulgaria with a dry, sunny day for Hungary.