Friday at least may continue the recent run of warmth, with forecasters predicting 22 degrees Celsius in some areas, but cloud and rain, principally in the north and west, will point to what’s in store for the weekend.

Rain will continue overnight, with temperatures plummeting to between 5 and 1 degrees – and ground frost possible in some areas.

Saturday will bring grey skies for most of the country, and though lucky northerners may see some brief sunny intervals, those in the south should prepare for thundery showers. Temperatures will be more restrained too, with highs of 10 to 20 degrees Celsius in prospect.

The night will not offer any respite from the rainfall in the south, but while Bavarian ducks will rejoice, people can console themselves with the best of the temperatures: there the mercury shouldn’t sink lower than five degrees, but further north forecasters say it could freeze.

It will be a similar story on Sunday, with the beleaguered south again seeing heavy rain and outbreaks of thunder, while the north should stay largely dry. Highs range from 10 in the north to 16 degrees in the south.

Click here for The Local’s weather forecast

For sun-worshippers however, there was better long-term news on Thursday. According to DWD vice president Paul Becker, the overall temperature trend is very much in an upward direction.

The first four months of the year, he told the annual DWD climate conference in Berlin, were 0.9 degrees warmer than the established average.

With last year confirmed as the fourth warmest on record, the upward temperature curve is clear and unbroken, according to Becker.

He told the conference, which included several figures from the renewable energy industry, that with extremely hot days set to occur more frequently in the future, the great challenge of the coming years would be to effectively harness the increased sunshine.

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