The German Weather Service has issued severe weather warnings for multiple states as violent thunderstorms move across eastern and northern Germany on Friday, after a heatwave pushed temperatures near 39 degrees Celsius earlier in the week. Authorities warned of heavy rain, wind gusts around 80 km/h and hail in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, with up to 35 litres of rain per square metre possible locally. Unweather alerts also cover large parts of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, including the cities of Leipzig, Dresden, Magdeburg and Jena. In Berlin and Brandenburg, highs reached up to 34 degrees before showers and storms arrived in the afternoon.
In the Czech Republic, temperatures climbed as high as 40 degrees before a thunderstorm system swept in from Bavaria across western and southwestern Bohemia. A severe storm warning remains in effect for western Czech regions until early Saturday. Heat stress stays extreme in southern Moravia through the weekend, and a nationwide fire-risk alert has been expanded. Temperatures are expected to drop to the low 30s Saturday before potentially nearing 40 again by Monday.