The heatwave that the Netherlands has experienced in recent days was particularly intense. With five days, it was as short as possible, but the temperatures reached are rare.
The first heatwave since August 2022 was a fact on Wednesday. Then it was 30 degrees or more in De Bilt for the third day in a row, while the two days before that a temperature of at least 25 was measured. It remains at the minimum duration of five days for a heatwave, because on Thursday it will not be warmer than 23 degrees in De Bilt.
Yet it has been a special heatwave, because of the rare heat. Tuesday was an extremely hot day, with temperatures above 35 degrees almost everywhere in the country. Wednesday followed the absolute outlier in Maastricht, where it was 39 degrees. That is the fifth highest temperature ever officially measured in the Netherlands.
“The intensity of the heat was very special,” says Weerplaza meteorologist Jeroen Elferink. “That 39 degrees in Limburg is ridiculously high by Dutch standards. This heatwave can rightly be called short but powerful.”
Locally, the heatwave may continue for a while, as long as temperatures remain above 25 degrees. The chance of this is high in the south of the country in the coming days.
Two heatwaves? ‘Weather has no memory’
Heatwaves in the Netherlands occur by far the most often in July and August. In that regard, the past heatwave was relatively early. Since 1911, the KNMI recorded six national heatwaves that took place (partly) in June.
The fact that a heatwave is taking place so early does not mean that there is a greater chance of a second heatwave later this summer. Two heatwaves in one year only happened four times before: in 1941, 2006, 2018 and 2019.
“The weather has no memory,” says Elferink. “This relatively early heatwave does not make the chance of a second heatwave this summer greater or smaller. Our weather is too erratic for that.”
In 1941 and 2006 there were about one and a half weeks between the two heatwaves, while the two in 2019 were a month apart. In 2018, the two heatwaves followed each other directly. If there had not been a cooler day on July 28, there would even have been a long heatwave of more than three weeks.