Sunniest start of March ever measured in Netherlands

At 11:30 a.m. today, the Netherlands had an average of 72.5 hours of sunshine so far in March, officially breaking the record for the sunniest first ten days of March ever measured in the country, Weer.nl reported.

As today is only March 9, and more sunshine is expected tomorrow, Weer.nl expects the record to be set at 89 hours of sunshine in the first ten days of March 2022. That is a significant improvement on the old record, set in 1976 when the sun shone an overage of 72 hours over the country. 

In the current climate - average from 1991 to 2020 - the sun shines an average of 39 hours from March 1 to 10. This year, the sun shone 128 percent more than usual. The long-term average is also already higher than a decade ago when the sun shone an average of 35 hours in the first ten days of March. 

The record for the gloomiest start to March went to 1946, when the country had an average of only 1.5 hours of sunshine in the first ten days of the month. 

Whether March 2022 will set the record for the sunniest March ever remains to be seen. That record is currently held by March 2014, when the Netherlands had 208 hours of sunshine in the month. Cloudier weather is expected to enter the country for Friday, but the European weather model forecast is still quite sunny. According to the current forecast, the Netherland will hit 200 hours of sunshine around March 23.