Record warm second quarter in Netherlands

The second quarter of 2018 was the warmest second quarter in the Netherlands since temperature measurements started in 1901, Weerplaza reports. The average temperature for this period currently stands at 15.2 degrees, but as June still has two expected to be hot days left, that may still increase.

Over day the average maximum temperature in April, May and June was 20.3 degrees Celsius. At night minimums dropped to an average of 9.5 degrees, bringing the average temperature for the second quarter to 15.2 degrees - much warmer than the usual average temperature of 12.5 degrees. 

"May in particular had a lot of warm days. As a result this past period was record warm", Diane Woei of Weerplaza explained to newspaper AD. July will also start with high temperatures, and maybe even a heatwave in the southeast. 

The downside of all the warm summer weather is an increased risk of wild fires. "From [Friday] there is officially a drought period. That means that it hasn't rained, or hardly rained for 20 days. Especially in the west of Noord-Brabant, the expectation is that there will be an increased risk of wildfires from the beginning of next week", Woei said.