The weather is set for a sharp shift starting Wednesday afternoon, with meteorologist Klearchos Marousakis warning of storms that will affect several parts of the country through Friday. He also explained why the highest temperatures are showing up mainly inland, while seasonal meltemi winds keep the mercury lower along the southern coasts.

Marousakis said the highest readings, like the 39.3°C recorded in Kilkis, tend to occur in areas that are more enclosed and farther from the sea, since those inland regions sit closer to the hot air mass currently building over the northern Balkans, unlike the more southern, coastal regions where the meltemi keeps temperatures down.

On the broader atmospheric pattern over Europe, he described a large ridge of high pressure sitting over western and central Europe, which over the next 24 hours will push another wave of very hot air toward the Iberian Peninsula, parts of France and as far as northern Germany, part of an ongoing flow of hot air out of Africa.

Greece sits at the edge of that high-pressure system, he explained, which is why cooler air masses are reaching the country, driving the meltemi winds and the unsettled weather expected to dominate Thursday and Friday. Wednesday itself will bring a mix of high temperatures late in the day combined with storms.

He said storms are expected across the northern and central mainland, reaching even into the interior of the Peloponnese, and that Thursday and Friday will see the storms cover wider areas with greater duration and intensity.