A plume of hot air from north Africa covered much of the central and eastern Mediterranean over the past couple of days. This gave rise to the first heatwave of 2020, with temperatures soaring to 34°C in places. The coming week is expected to be somewhat different. An extensive low pressure system currently over the western Mediterranean will migrate slowly eastwards, towards the Balkans. The southern edge of this system will affect us for most of the week. This low pressure system will drag cooler air from Europe towards our region, causing air temperatures to dip quite a bit. Maximum temperatures will decrease from Monday 18/05, and dip to 24°C for three days around midweek. A strong Northeast wind on Monday will give way to a strong West Northwest breeze. This too will last for some three days around midweek. Another impact this low pressure system will have on the Maltese Islands is increased cloud cover. A slight chance of a stray shower exists for Wednesday 20/05. A very positive thing to note is that the turning wind will clear away all airborne fine desert sand by Tuesday 19/05. The weekend, on the other hand, should see the re-strengthening of high pressure across the central Mediterranean. Starting on Friday 22/05, we will have hours of uninterrupted bright sunshine, calmer winds and warmer temperatures (26°C / 27°C highs). With the exception of Monday 18/05, minimum temperatures are set to be at a more comfortable 17°C / 18°C on all nights.