Germany was facing another extremely hot day on Tuesday, with temperatures between 30 and 38C in most parts of the country.
At the same time, scattered thunderstorms were expected, bringing heavy rain, hail and gale force winds in places.
It's a good day to close all the windows, and shutters and curtains, early on and do what you can to keep the heat out as temperatures rise throughout the day. In places where the weather is fair enough, you may also consider a trip to the local pool or lake for the afternoon to early evening hours.
Here's where the hottest temperatures are expected.
Heat & extreme weather warnings in place
The German Weather Service (DWD) had heat warnings in place over almost all of Germany on Tuesday.
You can see the DWD's heat warning map, updated as of about 10 am, below.
In central and southern parts of the country, an 'extreme' heat warning (shown in dark purple) was in effect on Tuesday. Affected cities include Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Erfurt and Nuremberg, where temperatures look set to get close to 38C by early evening.
Most of the rest of Germany, including the southern region around Munich as well as a large part of the north, even extending as far as Bremen, Hamburg and Schwerin, had a standard heat warning in place.
Heat warnings are issued when heat stress is expected among local populations. The DWD tends to issue heat warnings when daily temperatures will exceed 32C, and extreme heat warnings from 38C.
In addition to heat warnings, level two severe weather warnings were also in place in parts of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and in Brandenburg (just south of Potsdam), Saxony-Anhalt (south of Magdeburg) and Saxony (just north of Dresden).
Starting in these areas, the DWD expects thunderstorms with heavy rain, strong winds and hail. In the afternoon, thunderstorm activity will temporarily subside, with mostly sunny skies or scattered cumulus clouds.
Later, toward Tuesday evening, the storm regions will shift, and storms will then be more prevalent in the western half of the country, especially around the Black Forest.
The only parts of the country where no type of extreme weather was expected on Tuesday were some places the Baltic coast, such as around Kiel or Rügen. Here temperatures will range from 25 to 30C.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
Overnight into Wednesday, more showers and thunderstorms can be expected. In the second half of the night, showers and thunderstorms will gradually subside as the system moves off toward the northeast. Night-time low temperatures are expected to range between 16 and 22C across the country.
Wednesday's forecast looks similar, if a bit milder overall. The DWD expects partly cloudy skies, with heavy showers and thunderstorms in places, especially in the southeast and east.
High temperatures up to 35C will cover most of the southeast and eastern regions, whereas highs will top out around 25C near the North Sea.
Overnight into Thursday, skies will remain partly cloudy, with isolated showers and thunderstorms still possible.
On Thursday, it will be cloudy in the southeast with showers or heavy thunderstorms. Elsewhere, it will be partly cloudy with extended sunny periods and mostly dry.
Thursday is expected to bring the end of heat warnings, with highs between 26 and 32C, and up to around 24C in the northwest.
From Friday and through the weekend, the heat is expected to subside somewhat. High temperatures up to 29C can be expected in central and southern regions on Friday, and up to around 30C on Saturday.
