A low-pressure area seen off the coast of Norway and resembling a multi-headed dragon, as forecasters put it, moved eastward across Scandinavia and is now influencing Estonia as well.

Further afield, the heat is mounting – average daytime ambient temperatures across southern Europe, from Spain in the west to Turkey in the east, reached the late 30s and early 40s on Wednesday.

Estonia's more modest heatwave, which nonetheless brought with it a major fire hazard to the region and blazes having to be put out as far north as Lapland, has in any case come to an end for the meantime.

The low-pressure system arrived over the islands and western Estonia through the night and into early morning, bringing cloud and showers after the clearer conditions earlier.

Thursday morning is as a result mostly cloudy, with scattered showers in the west, though there are some clearer skies in the east.

Breezes on the mainland will remain light, but on the islands and west coast, gusts up to 13 m/s near will be seen. Morning temperatures range from 15-20°C.

The band of rainfall is set to move inland daytime to cove much of the mainland by the afternoon, while there is a chance of thunderstorms in eastern Estonia later in the day.

As this area of low pressure passes, (south)westerly winds will follow in its wake, of 4-10 meters per second in gusts up to 15 meters per second.

While the air will become fresher, ambient temperatures can reach up to 25 degrees. Over the islands it will remain cooler, at around 19 degrees.

The skies will clear up again in the evening, bringing drier conditions. It will be slightly warmer in the east (18-19 degrees) than the rest of the country (15-17 degrees) this evening.

In the days to come, winds from the west will remain quite strong, while the nights are set to be cool, at 8-9 degrees on average. Daytime mean ambient temperatures are set to be 18-19 degrees from Friday, through the weekend and up to and including Monday.

From Friday, the air will be fresh everywhere, with maximum temperatures barely reaching the 20 to 21-degree mark, while moderate (south)westerlies will add to this cooling effect.

A high-pressure zone is to become more influential, though during Friday day time, convective clouds will still emerge here and there, causing occasional rain showers, and this is set to continue into Saturday too.

On Sunday a band of heavier rain cloud is forecast to move across the country bringing further showers, while on Monday the rainfall will be more sporadic.

With two weeks to go until the summer solstice, the rate at which the days are getting longer is slowing up: Sunrise was at 4.09 a.m. today, and will be four minutes earlier come Monday, while sunset on Thursday is at just after 10.30 p.m., and at 10.35 p.m. next Monday (Tallinn times).

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!