Issued: 0530hrs Thursday 22nd December 2016
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Fair central and southern Europe but rain and wind to the north


Thursday
Some patchy rain in northern Spain today. Drier and brighter south and east. Italy will be dry with sunny spells throughout. Dry too in Greece with sunshine here, although some cloud and rain across Turkey.
Rain to the north and west of France, but dry in the south and east. Brighter for the Low Countries but some cloud and rain in northern Germany. Rain too in the far northwest of Poland but drier and brighter elsewhere. Fair through Austria and Hungary as well as Switzerland but with some early fog patches.
Cloud and some patchy rain in Denmark. Patchy rain in the south of Sweden but dry to the north. The Baltic States will be rather cloudy with some spots of rain here and breezy too. Rather windy in Finland but dry. Windy for much of Norway with rain in the west and south.

Friday
A dry day in Spain and Portugal with some good spells of sunshine. Dry in the Balearics too with further spels of sunshine. Some fog patches in Italy but overall fair and dry, although feeling cool. Greece should be dry with sunny spells, although more unsettled weather with rain, showers and snow affecting Turkey.
A few spots of drizzle for western France but fair in the east. Breezy with sunny spells through the Low Countries and northern Germany. Fair in Poland with sunny spells, and this sunshine affecting much of Austria, Hungary and Switzerland too although there could be some morning fog patches here.
Severe gales arriving in western Norway. Breezy for Denmark and rather cloudy. Fair and mild in the Baltic States and Finland. Sweden will be fair throughout the day.