2018 officially the sunniest year ever measured in Netherlands

As of Tuesday morning the year 2018 is officially the sunniest year ever measured in the Netherlands, Weerplaza said on Thursday. With over 2,022 hours of sunshine, 2003's record of 2,021 hours and 40 minutes is officially broken.

This is only the second time ever since measurements started in 1901 that the Netherlands had over 2 thousand hours of sunshine in a year. On average the Netherlands gets around 1,600 hours of sunshine per year.

Around 30 years ago the Netherlands got an average of 1,480 hours of sunshine per year. "In the past it was not entirely unusual, for example, to have weeks of fog and no sunshine", the weather service said.

Weerplaza attributes the very sunny year to improved air quality and less cloudiness.