The German Weather Service (DWD) headquartered in Offenbach forecast temperatures of up to 40 degrees in some parts of eastern Germany on Sunday.
The heat approached the record high set for early July nearly 60 years ago – when the DWD measured temperatures of 39.5 degrees Celsius in Bad Dürkheim and Heidelberg on July 2, 1952.
Both Bendorf in western Germany and the city of Trier saw temperatures over 38 degrees Celsius on Saturday, while in other regions the mercury topped out between 30 and 36 degrees Celsius, the DWD said.
Holidaymakers on the North and Baltic Sea coasts experienced less sweltering temperatures in the upper 20s.
Sunday’s forecast includes high humidity and temperatures in the mid 30s for most of Germany, meaning no break from the scorching heat. Pockets of the east could even soar up to a sultry 40 degrees.
Conditions will be sunny and dry in the country’s eastern and southeastern regions, with thunderstorms in the forecast for northwestern Germany.
The DWD predicts the heat wave will continue into next week before temperatures gradually start to decrease.