Central Europe felt an intense heatwave at the end of June. The animation shows the daily maximum land surface temperature anomalies for the time period between 24 of June and 2 of July 2019. The reference period is taken here as the 2004-2018 median. In some regions in France and Spain, temperatures were 12°C above normal and over Germany exceeded 15ºC. Continental Portugal had below average temperatures north of the Montejunto-Estrela mountain range, while the south showed slightly above normal temperatures.

The LST is estimated from thermal infrared radiances measured by the SEVIRI instrument onboard the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG). Estimates are provided every 15 minutes since 2004 (find more about LSA SAF LST data record here). The values represent the land surface radiative temperature, which differs from the 2m air temperature measured by conventional weather stations. Satellite land surface temperature can only be measured in clear sky conditions, since clouds are opaque to infrared radiation (detailed information on how LSA SAF LST is estimated from MSG observations can be found here).