Police rescue baby from locked car in AmersfoortIn Amersfoort, police officers rescued a baby from a locked car this morning, reports RTV Utrecht. The police received a report from the car owner that the door had locked, with the key still in the ignition. The officers then broke the window and rescued the child. The baby is doing well.
Because it was not a deliberate action by the owner, no one was arrested. Officers warn once again that it is life-threatening to leave a child or animal in a car. If it is 30 degrees outside, it can be 40 degrees inside the car in ten minutes. Within half an hour, the temperature can even rise to 50 degrees.
Salt is being spread on asphalt in Flevoland to combat heatIn Flevoland, salt is being spread on all roundabouts on provincial roads. This is to prevent deformation of the asphalt, says a spokesperson for the province. The salt attracts moisture from the air, which cools the asphalt. This should counteract rutting and congestion of the road surface.
Rijkswaterstaat is not spreading salt on the highways, says a spokesperson. “That is not necessary with the type of asphalt that is there.” Salt is also not being spread in North Brabant and Limburg for the time being. “It is a whole operation and you also bring a lot of stuff into nature that does not belong there,” says a spokesperson for the province of North Brabant. “Under the current circumstances, we wonder if we would not do more harm than good.”
Today officially the warmest July 1st ever measuredToday is officially the warmest July 1st ever measured. At 1:10 PM, 33.2 degrees was measured in De Bilt. Since the beginning of measurements in 1901, it has not been this warm in De Bilt on July 1st. The previous record was 33.1 degrees, from 2015.
The record is no less than the seventh date heat record of the year. On average, these records occur about nine times a year. It is possible that a record will also be broken tomorrow, when it will be well over 35 degrees in many places in the country.
Second highest electricity price of the year tonightTonight between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM we will record the second highest electricity price of the year. Due to the heat, we are using more electricity today, especially for cooling. But in the evening, the generation of solar panels decreases and there is little wind today. As a result, the gas-fired power plants that were not needed for the rest of the day have to be started up, says climate reporter Jeroen Kraan.
With a fixed contract, you do not notice this directly, although these types of situations are factored into your rate. For people with a dynamic contract, it is important to pay attention.
Graduation ceremony from baseball stadium moved to schoolNormally, exam candidates from Mendel College in Haarlem always have their diploma ceremony in the adjacent baseball stadium. But that cannot go ahead today due to the heat. “We have just made the decision,” says the rector of Mendel College in conversation with NH Nieuws. “We have been to the stadium, where it was 28 degrees. The ceremony starts at 4:00 PM. Then it will be well into the 30s. You are sitting there in full sun. That is not pleasant and we just should not do that.” The ceremony has been moved to the school’s auditorium.
First time since 2022 above 35 degrees in the NetherlandsIt is the first time in three years that it has been 35 degrees in the Netherlands again. In Woensdrecht it just reached 35.1 degrees and so we are talking about the first regional very hot day since 2022, reports Weeronline. The last day that the mercury rose above 35 degrees in the Netherlands was July 19, 2022. In Maastricht it even reached 39.5 degrees that day.
KNMI to start new index for heat in 2026The KNMI will come with a new index for heat next year. In this index, temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind are combined. According to the KNMI, “one type of heat is not the other”. This index shows how heavy the heat feels at that moment. “Very often we only look at temperature, but other factors are also crucial for the effect of heat on humans,” said thermophysiologist Boris Kingma of TNO in this article.
The heat force, like wind force, is expressed in a numbered scale starting from 1. The new index was developed by TNO, the KNMI, the RIVM and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. They developed the system because Dutch people are increasingly dealing with heat due to climate change.
Reporting center for animals in need receives more reports due to heatDue to the warm weather, more reports are being received at the telephone number 144, the reporting center for animal abuse and neglect. This includes, for example, reports of animals in hot cars or without shelter. Exact figures are not yet known.
A spokesperson says that people can also call 112 in case of emergency. If it is not an emergency, 144 asks to make a report via the website. The waiting time on the phone may be much longer than usual, the reporting center writes on X.
Man in Italy dies while working on construction siteA 47-year-old man in Bologna has died from the heat, reports the Italian RaiNews. The man collapsed around noon while working on a construction site. Colleagues tried to resuscitate him in vain.
Possibly 57th extremely hot day in the Netherlands todayWe speak of an extremely warm day in the Netherlands if the temperature exceeds 35 degrees. If that happens today, it is the 57th extremely warm day that the KNMI has measured. On July 23, 1911, the first was measured.
Remarkable: since 2011, almost as many extremely warm days have been measured (26) as in the hundred years before (30). This also proves that our summers are now much hotter than a hundred years ago, as climate reporter Jeroen Kraan said earlier in this blog.
What can you do to cool down?The RIVM provides tips for what you can do to cool your body, even with temperatures above 35 degrees. From 36 degrees, it is more difficult for the body to lose heat. This is because the outside temperature is equal to or higher than the temperature of your skin. Sweating is then the only way your body cools.
The health institute advises the following:
Reader question: Was it as warm in the past as it is now?Several readers have the idea that heat like this week also occurred regularly in the past. Is that also the case? “Of course it was sometimes warm in the past, but all statistics show that our summers are really much hotter than a hundred years ago,” says climate reporter Jeroen Kraan. “Climate warming is also stronger in the Dutch summer than in other seasons. Moreover, the extremes are becoming more extreme: the warmest day is getting warmer and the wettest day is getting wetter.”
“At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was an average of one tropical day per year. Regularly the mercury did not rise above 30 degrees for a whole year. Only people aged 32 and over have experienced that: a year without tropical days last occurred in 1993.”
In this article from a few years ago, Jeroen shows how summers have become warmer.
Due to the heat in Paris, the top of the Eiffel Tower is closed to visitors. Code red applies in the French capital, with possible temperatures up to 39 degrees. The first and second floors of the steel tower are still open.
Bridges throughout the country are being kept wet, as here in Amsterdam. That cooling is necessary to ensure that the bridges can open and close without problems. The water prevents the steel from expanding due to the heat. If that were to happen, it would cause problems for opening and closing bridges.
Previous regional heat wave was in September 2023The regional heat wave is the first since 2023. At that time there was a regional heat wave of nine days in a large part of the country. There were a total of three regional heat waves that summer.
The fact that there was no heat wave in 2024 was an exception compared to previous years. The last year before that without a heat wave was 2011.
First regional heat wave in EindhovenThe temperature in Eindhoven has risen above 30 degrees and therefore there is a heat wave in the Brabant city. At 10:20 AM the temperature there was 30.6 degrees. The heat wave in Eindhoven started on Friday with summery temperatures. On Sunday and Monday there were already tropical temperatures above 30 degrees. Today is therefore the third day, which meets the conditions for a heat wave. It is the first regional heat wave of 2025.
In the other regions there can only be a heat wave tomorrow. There was only a tropical day there on Monday and today is therefore only the second tropical day in a row. Eindhoven was the only place in the Netherlands where it was warmer than 30 degrees on Sunday.
An official ‘extremely warm day’ possibleThere is a good chance that it will be warmer than 35 degrees in De Bilt today. According to the definitions of the KNMI, this means that an “extremely warm day” is possible. That is the category above the tropical day: that is the case with temperatures above 30 degrees.
National heat wave still possibleIn De Bilt, the temperature barely exceeded 30 degrees yesterday. This means that a national heat wave is still possible this week. This requires five consecutive days warmer than 25 degrees in De Bilt, of which the temperature rises above 30 degrees three times.
“Today the 30 degrees will be really easy,” says Johnny Willemsen of Weerplaza. “It will be about 34 to 35 degrees in the center of the country.” The tension about whether it will really be a heat wave lies in the temperature on Wednesday. Whether it is also 30 degrees in De Bilt then depends on when the wind turns to the north and when it becomes cloudy.
If it becomes a heat wave, it will be a close one, says Willemsen. The minimum limit of a heat wave will be exactly reached in that case: five days warmer than 25 degrees and three warmer than 30 degrees. From Thursday the temperature will drop again.
Not only in the Netherlands do people seek the shade as much as possible: in Paris, too, a shady bench is a pleasant place for some cooling. Code red applies in the French capital, the highest heat alarm, because it can reach up to 39 degrees.
It is a statement that regularly comes up when Dutch people talk about the heat: warm days feel stuffier in the Netherlands than in countries in Southern Europe. That is partly due to our climate, but it is also a bit in our minds. Our colleague Rianne Lachmeijer explains here how that works.
It was a tropical night in the west and southeastIn several places it was a tropical night last night, but certainly not everywhere. “The temperature has remained above 20 degrees in many places for a very long time, but eventually it has still fallen below 20 degrees in many places,” says Matthijs van der Linden of Weeronline. That did not happen everywhere. At the measuring point of Vlissingen it remained 21.8 degrees, and at Hoek van Holland it remained 20.8 degrees. In Schiphol the temperature briefly dropped to 19.9 degrees before rising again.
The meteorologist does make a caveat. “Those measuring points are always in an open landscape, so near grass fields.” In the cities in the west, but also in the southeast of the country, it may ultimately have remained above 20 degrees. If the temperature does not fall below 20 degrees at night, it is a tropical night.
In the east and northeast of the country it was the “least warm”, says Van der Linden. In Nieuw-Beerta, in the far east of Groningen, the lowest value measured was 11.4 degrees.
Not only in the Netherlands is it warm these days. In many other countries in Europe, temperatures are even rising above 40 degrees. You can read what the consequences of that are in this article.
Tips to get through the heatThe Red Cross warns that the consequences of heat can be greater than you might think and gives a number of tips. The first seems obvious, but is not for everyone: drink well, even if you are not thirsty. This is especially important for the elderly. Their organs work less well and their thirst sensation and sweat production have decreased.
It is also a good idea to check the package leaflet of your medicines. Some medicines affect how your body regulates your temperature. Then precautionary measures are needed. Furthermore, the aid organization emphasizes that you should apply sunscreen well, put on sunglasses or a hat when you go outside and wear airy clothing made of cotton or linen.
Finally, a tip to keep your house cool: put a frozen bottle of water in front of the fan.
Code orange for southeast Netherlands on Tuesday and WednesdayIn the provinces of North Brabant, Limburg and Gelderland, code orange applies today and tomorrow due to extreme heat, was announced yesterday. It will be almost tropical warm everywhere today, with maximum temperatures of 38 degrees. On Wednesday it can locally be 38 degrees again. At night it cools down somewhat, to temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees.