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It's looking like a pretty unsettled weekend ahead, with a narrow trough already causing instability across the country on Thursday before an Atlantic storm sweeps in and makes things considerably worse from Friday onwards. Here's what to expect over the next four days.

 

Thursday brings increasing cloud cover from the early hours, with showers and thunderstorms developing across much of the mainland as a front passes over. The most intense storms are expected in Castilla-La Mancha, Madrid, Murcia, the Valencian Community, Aragon, eastern Castilla y León, La Rioja and the Cantabrian Mountains, with the southwest of the country the most stable area, although a few showers can't be ruled out even there.

 

Yellow weather warnings are in place across large areas for storms, which could bring hail and strong wind gusts, as well as for locally intense hourly rainfall.

 

The most severe conditions are expected during the afternoon, particularly in the area around Albacete, Cuenca, inland Valencia, Alicante and Teruel, where large hail is a possibility. An orange alert has been activated for coastal areas of southern Valencia and northern Alicante, where significant rainfall is also expected.

 

Temperature-wise, minimums will rise across much of the inland areas overnight into Thursday, and maximums will continue climbing in the north and northeast. However, temperatures are set to drop in the southeast, with the most notable falls in Cuenca, Albacete, Murcia and Almería.

 

The Atlantic storm begins making its presence felt on Friday as it approaches the western coast. Showers and storms will be most significant in the northeast during the morning before spreading inland and intensifying during the afternoon, with the area around the Iberian System particularly affected.

 

Maximum temperatures will drop in the northwest, including Galicia, Palencia, Valladolid, León, Zamora, Salamanca and Cáceres, and will fall below 20°C across most of Castilla y León and the western Cantabrian region.

 

Southerly winds will push temperatures up along the Cantabrian coast and in the Basque Country. Seville, in the far southwest, will remain the warmest spot, potentially reaching 27°C.

 

An occluded front moves in from the west in the early hours of Saturday, bringing locally heavy rainfall to Cáceres, Badajoz, Huelva, Seville and Cádiz. Storms will develop along the front, with the coastal provinces of Andalucía and Murcia in line for some intense activity.

 

As the day progresses, showers and thunderstorms will spread to the rest of the country, with the interior and northeast most significantly affected.

 

Temperatures will drop noticeably in several inland areas, with Madrid potentially seeing a fall of up to 5°C compared to earlier in the week.

 

Heavy rain continues across Extremadura, Huelva, Seville and Cádiz on Sunday, extending to Toledo, Madrid, Guadalajara, Castilla y León and other Andalucían provinces including Córdoba as the day goes on.

 

The eastern third of the mainland and the Balearic Islands are the exception, with mostly clear or partly cloudy skies expected there, and temperatures rising in the Balearic Islands and the eastern half of the country, with a particularly noticeable increase in the Valencian Community.