There will be a big change in temperature across parts of Europe this week. Northern Scandinavia experienced unprecedented heat last week with Tana Bru and Banak in Norway reaching 32.5C on Wednesday, the hottest June day ever recorded within the Arctic Circle. Other areas recorded temperatures of 30C to 32C on Saturday.
Meanwhile, although temperatures have eased slightly over the last week, Italy and much of the Balkans have been in the grip of a heatwave for some time, which has resulted in sea surface temperatures in the Black Sea and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea rising to and remaining more than 5C above average in places.
However, it is all change through this week. An area of low pressure close to Iceland will move eastwards into Scandinavia, introducing much cooler air over Norway and Sweden initially, with temperatures falling below average on Monday and for the rest of this week. Northern parts of Norway, which exceeded 30C last week, will struggle to reach double figures through the remainder of this week. Northwesterly winds will feed this cooler air through central parts of Europe and down towards Italy and the Balkans later in the week, finally allowing temperatures to drop back to or below average in these areas, bringing welcome respite.
Hot weather has been seen in Alaska and northern parts of Canada over the last few days, with temperatures rising more than 10C above average. In parts of northern Canada, temperatures are expected to remain above 10C throughout the week. Maximum temperatures are expected to reach 30C to 33C in northern parts of the Northwest Territories every day this week. Meanwhile, an area of low pressure will move into Alaska from the Pacific, introducing rain and cooler conditions.
Over the next few days, temperatures will rise over 10C above the seasonal norm in northern parts of China. Areas that normally have daytime temperatures reaching the low 30Cs will have temperatures in the low 40Cs. All-time temperature records may be broken, with Jinghe in the north-west perhaps exceeding its current mark on multiple days in a row from Thursday onwards.
