Dutch beaches crowded on first tropical day of the year
Sunday was both the first national tropical day of the year for the Netherlands, and the hottest June 2nd ever measured in the country. Temperatures at the national weather station in De Bilt climbed to 30 degrees at around 4:00 p.m., breaking the previous record of 29.5 degrees dating from 1947, according to Weerplaza.
Many Dutch decided to make use of the warm weather by going to the beach, leading to many traffic jams. People heading to the beach quickly became stuck in traffic on the A20 towards Hoek van Holland and the N201 towards Zandvoort early on Sunday, NU.nl reports.
Traffic was also an issue on the way home. At around 430 p.m. there were 33 traffic jams with a total length of 125 kilometers on Dutch roads, according to travelers' association ANWB. "That's considerably busier than on other Sunday. That is certainly due to the nice weather. People were also heading home after a long Ascension weekend", the association said.
The nice weather also led to crowded trains. NS ran four instead of two regular trains per hour between Haarlem, Overveen and Zandvoort, to cope with the crowds.
The heat resulted in a number of running events being canceled. The Hoorn marathon, the Mooi Ruinen run in Drenthe, and the Maas and Waal marathon in the Gelderland town of Apeltern were all canceled to protect participants from heat injuries, according to NU.nl. The organizers of the Driedorpenloop in Noord-Holland decided not to let the 'half marathon' take place and placed extra water posts along the routes. The Asserstadsloop canceled the 10 kilometers.
Unfortunately, the tropical temperatures were not here to stay. Sunday evening cooled down quickly, and Monday will be cloudy with a shower here and there. Maximum temperatures will range between 19 degrees on the coast and 24 degrees Celsius in the eastern parts of the country, according to Weerplaza.
