Hello and welcome to this live blog. Here we keep you informed of the tropical temperatures in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe.
How do you keep yourself and others cool today? Send your photos to the editors via [email protected]. Who knows, you might see your photo in this blog.
Also a busy day for Roadside Assistance on Tuesday Also on Tuesday, there are more breakdowns on the road due to the heat. As a result, Roadside Assistance is busier than normal. People mainly suffer from starting or battery problems.
At the end of the day, the breakdown service expects to have received approximately 4,000 reports. Yesterday there were 4,400. On an average day, around 3,800 motorists need assistance.
Because the heat plan is in effect, motorists are immediately taken to a location with facilities, such as a gas station. There they can safely wait for roadside assistance.
Hottest June since the start of measurements in Spain It was the hottest month of June in Spain since the start of measurements. The average temperature was 23.6 degrees. That is 0.8 degrees warmer than the record from 2017.
Last month was 3.5 degrees warmer than the average in June between 1991 and 2020. That is also a record. This June was even warmer than a normal July or August.
It is also very hot in Spain today. In several places the temperature rises above 40 degrees.
Possible heatwave depends on temperature tomorrow According to the KNMI, we can expect to speak of a national heatwave tomorrow. For this, the temperature in De Bilt must exceed 30 degrees. We speak of a heatwave if the temperature exceeds 25 degrees for five consecutive days, three of which are above 30 degrees.
NU.nl reader Maaike takes good care of the postmen in her neighborhood. They can ring her doorbell for an ice cream and a cold bottle of water. She works at home in front of the fan herself.
Rare hot day measured in De Bilt Today is officially a very hot day. A temperature of 35.3 degrees has been measured in De Bilt. We speak of a very hot day if the temperature exceeds 35 degrees.
The last very hot day was on July 19, 2022. It is not often that the 35 degree mark is exceeded. It is only the eleventh time since 1901 that a temperature of 35 degrees or higher has been measured in De Bilt.
Ziggo Dome warns people not to arrive too early The Ziggo Dome warns people who are going to the Green Day concert tonight not to arrive too early because of the heat. If they do, it is recommended to apply sunscreen, stay out of the sun and wear a cap or hat.
Many people are looking for refreshment on the water of the Biesbosch today. Things went wrong with a speedboat: a fire broke out on the boat. This released a large black cloud of smoke. The occupants have been checked by ambulance personnel, writes Omroep Brabant. Nothing is yet known about their possible injuries.
It is also unclear how the fire started. The boat has been towed away.
Dog Rose from Leeuwarden dries off in the sun after a dip in the canal. In any case, she is not bothered by the sun shining in her eyes.
50,000 people evacuated due to forest fires in Turkey Forest fires have been raging in Izmir, a province in western Turkey, in recent days. Rescuers have already evacuated more than 50,000 people.
Rescuers are also busy extinguishing wildfires in parts of the provinces of Bilecik, Hatay, Sakarya and Manisa. In total, there are 263 fires throughout the country. 46 people were injured. They are being treated in the hospital. As far as is known, there have been no deaths.
Among others, outgoing Prime Minister Dick Schoof and the Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema sat under umbrellas to protect themselves from the heat. They were present at the National Slavery Remembrance in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark. Due to the heat, the ceremony already started at 12.15 pm, two hours earlier than planned.
In addition to the umbrellas, water was also distributed and ice creams were for sale in many places. Two people became unwell due to the heat. The ceremony is now over.
Two people became unwell during Amsterdam slavery past commemoration During the National Slavery Past Commemoration in Amsterdam, two people became unwell due to the heat, reports Het Parool. The medical service took both to the medical aid post. The commemoration in the Oosterpark is now over. Due to the extreme heat, water was distributed and there were umbrellas for extra shade. Ice creams were also for sale in many places. Some of the visitors left before the end of the ceremony due to the heat.
Police rescue baby from closed car in Amersfoort In Amersfoort, agents rescued a baby from a closed car this morning, reports RTV Utrecht. The police received a report from the owner of the car that the door had locked, with the key still in the ignition. The agents then smashed the window and rescued the child. The baby is doing well.
Because it was not a deliberate action by the owner, no one has been arrested. Agents 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 already be 40 degrees inside the car within ten minutes. Within half an hour, the temperature can even rise to 50 degrees.
In Flevoland, salt is being sprinkled on asphalt to combat heat In Flevoland, salt is being sprinkled on all roundabouts on provincial roads. This is done 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 prevent rutting and congestion of the road surface.
Rijkswaterstaat does not sprinkle on the national roads, says a spokesperson. “That is not necessary with the type of asphalt that is there.” Salt is also not being sprinkled 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 whether we would do more harm than good with it.”
Today officially the warmest July 1 ever measured Today is officially the warmest July 1 ever measured. At 1.10 pm, 33.2 degrees was measured in De Bilt, since the start of measurements in 1901 it was not so warm in De Bilt on July 1. The previous record was 33.1 degrees, and comes 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. A record may also be broken tomorrow, then it will be well over 35 degrees in many places in the country.
Tonight the second highest electricity price of the year Tonight between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM we note the second highest electricity price of the year. Due to the heat, we use more electricity today, especially for cooling. But in the evening the generation of solar panels falls back 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 included in your rate. For people with a dynamic contract it is good to pay attention.
Exam graduation from baseball stadium moved to school Normally, exam candidates from the Mendel College in Haarlem always have their graduation 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 the Mendel College in conversation with NH Nieuws. “We have been in the stadium, it was 28 degrees there. The ceremony starts at 4:00 PM. Then it will be well into the 30s. You are sitting there full of sun. That is not pleasant and we should just not do that.” The ceremony has been moved to the auditorium of the high school.
For the first time since 2022 more than 35 degrees in the Netherlands It is the first time in three years that it is 35 degrees again in the Netherlands. In Woensdrecht it has 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 temperature in the Netherlands rose above 35 degrees was July 19, 2022. In Maastricht it was even 39.5 degrees that day.
KNMI starts with new index for heat in 2026 The 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 about this 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 have developed the system because Dutch people are increasingly dealing with heat due to climate change.
Many people choose to spend the warm day on the beach. In Wageningen, a few cows also take the opportunity to tan.
NU.nl reader Derrik de Moei has found a clever way to find refreshment while working. But watch out for your equipment, Derrik!
Reporting point for animals in need receives more reports due to heat Due to the warm weather, more reports are coming in to the telephone number 144, the reporting point 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 can be a lot longer than usual, the reporting point writes on X.
Man in Italy dies while working on construction site A 47-year-old man in Bologna has died due to the heat, reports the Italian RaiNews. The man collapsed around noon while working on a construction site. Colleagues tried to resuscitate him in vain.
Today possibly 57th extremely hot day in the Netherlands We 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. The first was measured on July 23, 1911.
Remarkably: since 2011, almost as many extremely warm days have been measured (26) as in the hundred years before that (30). This also proves that our summers are much hotter nowadays than a hundred years ago, as climate reporter Jeroen Kraan already said earlier in this blog.
In the heat, people are also ‘just’ working. These men work all day at work on the A10 South in Amsterdam.
What can you do to cool down? The RIVM gives 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 hot 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 so? “Of course it was sometimes hot 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 and 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 temperature did not rise above 30 degrees for a whole year. Only people aged 32 and older have experienced that: a year without tropical days last occurred in 1993.”
In this article from a few years ago, Jeroen shows how the summers have become warmer.
Due to the heat in Paris, the top of the Eiffel Tower is closed to visitors. In the French capital there is code red, 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 heatwave was in September 2023 The regional heatwave is the first since 2023. At that time there was a regional heatwave of nine days in a large part of the country. That summer there were a total of three regional heatwaves.
The fact that there was no heatwave in 2024 was an exception compared to previous years. The last year before that without a heatwave was 2011.
First regional heatwave in Eindhoven The temperature in Eindhoven has risen above 30 degrees and therefore there is a heatwave in the Brabant city. At 10.20 am the temperature there was 30.6 degrees. The heatwave in Eindhoven started on Friday with summer 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 heatwave. It is the first regional heatwave of 2025.
In the other regions there can only be a heatwave 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’ possible There is a good chance that it will be warmer than 35 degrees in De Bilt today. According to the definitions of the KNMI, an “extremely warm day” is possible. That is the category above the tropical day: that is the case with temperatures above 30 degrees.
Dogs are also looking for refreshment in various ways today. Here Wiebe takes a refreshing dip in the ditch.
National heatwave still possible In De Bilt, the temperature yesterday barely exceeded 30 degrees. This means that a national heatwave is still possible this week. For this, five consecutive days are needed warmer than 25 degrees in De Bilt, of which the temperature exceeds 30 degrees three times.
“Today, the 30 degrees is really a piece of cake,” says Johnny Willemsen of Weerplaza. “It will be about 34 to 35 degrees in the center of the country.” The tension whether it will really be a heatwave lies in the temperature of Wednesday. Whether it is also 30 degrees in De Bilt then depends on when the wind turns north and when it becomes cloudy.
If it becomes a heatwave, it is a tight one, says Willemsen. The minimum limit of a heatwave will in that case be exactly reached: five days warmer than 25 degrees and three warmer than 30 degrees. From Thursday the temperature will drop again.
Not only in the Netherlands are people looking for as much shade as possible: also in Paris a shady bench is a pleasant place for some refreshment. In the French capital, code red applies, the highest heat alarm, because it can be 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 also a bit between our ears. Our colleague Rianne Lachmeijer explains here how that works.
In the west and southeast it was a tropical night In several places it was a tropical night last night, but certainly not everywhere. “The temperature stayed above 20 degrees in many places for a very long time, but in the end it still dropped 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 dropped very briefly to 19.9 degrees, before rising again.
The meteorologist does make a caveat. “Those measuring points are always in open landscape, so near grass fields.” In the cities in the west, but also in the southeast of the country, it may therefore ultimately have remained above 20 degrees. If the temperature does not drop below 20 degrees at night, there 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 to above 40 degrees. You can read what the consequences are in this article.
Tips to get through the heat The 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 and sweat production have decreased.
It is also good to check the leaflet of your medicines. Some medicines affect how your body regulates your temperature. Then precautionary measures are needed. Furthermore, the aid organization emphasizes to apply sunscreen, 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.
Tuesday and Wednesday code orange for southeast Netherlands In 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 everywhere tropical warm today, with maximum temperatures of 38 degrees. On Wednesday it can again be 38 degrees locally. At night it cools down somewhat, to temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees.