The rain is set to continue in the new week, which will also bring relief from the ongoing fire warnings and overall hazards that May has brought.

Overnight Wednesday to Thursday saw temperatures in the teens, while showers were confined mainly to the center and the northeast.

Thursday morning has dawned mostly dry, save for in Ida-Viru County and over Saaremaa, and clear across much of the mainland. The gentle breezes remain, while ambient temperatures will be as high as 21C in Tallinn, and no lower than 18C on the mainland. The islands are seeing somewhat cooler temperatures this morning, particularly Hiiumaa (15C).

As the day wears on, however, the same pattern seen on Wednesday will recur, with cumulus and cumulonimbus cloud developing and intensifying and bringing showers in the north and east, along with a strong chance of thunderstorms – which may even involve hail.

Winds will remain light and variable; (north)easterlies on the northern coast at 4 to 10 meters per second, though stronger gusts gusts will be experienced during thunderstorms themselves.

Mean ambient temperatures will rise to 24 to 29 degrees Celsius, but cooler, at around 20 degrees Celsius, on the coasts and during rainfall.

Despite the showers, the ongoing fire risk remains exceptionally high in some areas.

Thunderstorms and showers are likely also to spread to the south and southwest, including Pärnu, Thursday evening.

On Friday, the thunderstorm showers will be more scattered, only to become more widespread over the weekend.

At the same time, this means the recent, by the standards of Estonia in May, intense, heatwave, will gradually diminish. Whereas the average temperature on Friday is forecast at 27 degrees, this will fall by increments of a couple of degrees daily, through to the start of the new week, when it is expected to be 22 Celsius on average during the day.

In addition to cooler temperatures, more rain is forecast for early next week as well.

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