Record set for coldest ever April 3 at -6.3° Celsius

The Netherlands has a new unofficial record for the coldest April 3 ever recorded. The thermometer showed -6.3 degrees Celsius at the weather station in Deelen, Gelderland, falling below the previous low-mark of -5.5 degrees set in Winterswijk on April 3, 1909, according to WeerOnline.

The coldest-ever April temperature is -9.4 degrees, measured in Deelen, Gelderland, on April 12, 1986. The mercury dipped to between -5 and -6 degrees in a handful of other locations, according to the weather monitoring website. Some of the more frigid temperatures were measured in Eelde, Eindhoven, Enschede, Herwijnen, Hupsel, and Volkel.

Official weather records are for the Netherlands are measured by the KNMI in De Bilt, Utrecht, considered the meteorological center of the country. The April 3 record there is -4.8 degrees, and over night temperatures there did not fall past -4.0 degrees. The coldest ever April day in De Bilt is -6.6 degrees, also set on April 12, 1986.

Overnight and daytime temperatures both should warm up in the coming days, according to the meteorological institute, KNMI. Some rain and moderate winds are expected for seven straight days, but the temperatures should rise as high as 13 degrees during the day, and near the freezing point in the early morning hours on Monday and Friday.

Subzero overnight temperatures in April are not particularly rare in the Netherlands. Eelde, Groningen, recorded a temperature below freezing on 18 different days last April. The record there is 20 set in 1917, according to WeerOnline.