Widespread sunshine across the country on Tuesday means that all of southern Germany – including the states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saarland, and Rhineland-Palatinate – are already on a heat-warning alert, DWD spokesperson Uwe Kirsche told The Local.

Sunshine and “high summer warmth” are expected to continue through Wednesday and Thursday, when an extreme heat warning will likely be issued.

“Temperatures are expected to reach up to 36 degrees (Celsius) in places on Thursday, but with the high humidity the perceived temperature for people will be more like 38 degrees,” Kirsche said. “It will certainly be among hottest days of the year.”

Heat warnings are issued mainly for the benefit of health care workers and institutions such as hospitals and retirement homes, he added. “We want to avoid incidents like the deaths that occurred during the summer heat wave of 2003,” he said.

Northern Germany will be a bit cooler, as the general pattern goes, with temperatures reaching up to 25 degrees Celsius on the coast and interior locations reaching up to 28 degrees, DWD reported.

Evening thunderstorms are likely to follow the heat on Thursday in the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Bavaria, Brandenburg and Saxony.

Click here for The Local’s weather forecast.