2017 fourth hottest year ever measured in Netherlands

This year will go into the weather record books as exceptionally hot, sunny and rainy. The average temperature measured in De Bilt this year is 10.9 degrees, compared to an usual average of 10.1 degrees. That puts 2017 in a shared fourth place in the top 10 list of hottest years ever measured in the Netherlands, Weeronlnie announced on Thursday.

In terms of heat, June was the hottest month this year. Between June 17th and 23rd, there was even a heat wave parts of Zeeland, Noord-Brabant and Limburg. 2017 shares fourth place with the years 2015, 2011, 2000, 1999 and 1990. The year 2006 was the hottest year ever in the Netherlands since weather measurements started in 1901, followed by 2007 in second and 2014 in third. 

In addition to high temperatures, 2017 also had a lot of rain and many hours of sunshine. On average 947 millimeters of rain fell across the entire Netherlands, compared to the usual average of 849 millimeters. And there were 1,765 hours of sunshine in the country this year, compared to the usual of 1,639 hours.

The highest temperature of the year was measured in Arcen in Limburg, where temperatures climbed to 35.2 degrees on June 22nd. The lowest temperature was measured at the Twente weather station, where temperatures dropped to -10.8 degrees on January 12th.