Winterwijk ice rink opens after one icy night; First official frost of the year

After one night of good frost, the Winterswijk ice skating association WIJV is opening its natural ice rink for skaters on Wednesday. The first official frost of the year was also measured in De Bilt on Tuesday evening.

The Winterswijk ice rink opened to the public at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, ice master Hendrik van Prooije told Omroep Gelderland. “The ice is about 1 centimeter thick, and we expect skating will be possible until noon at the latest,” he said. That means a few hundred skaters can enjoy the ice. Temperatures dropped to -5 degrees in Winterswijk overnight.

The first official frost of the year also finally made its appearance on Tuesday evening when temperatures dipped to -0.5 degrees at the national weather station in De Bilt at around 6:40 p.m. January 17 is pretty late for the first official frost, with below-zero temperatures only waiting longer to arrive in four other years since temperature measurements started in 1901, Weeronline reported.

The record for the latest first frost of the year is held by 1976. In that year, temperatures dipped below zero in De Bilt for the first time on January 24. Second place is January 22 in 2007, followed by January 20 in 1948 and 1998.

The last time it froze in De Bilt was on December 18, leaving almost precisely a month between frosts.

The weather today will be cloudy but with room for sunshine, according to the meteorological institute KNMI. There may be some wintry showers in the Wadden area this morning and in the northwest and north this afternoon. Wet snow and hail may occur. Afternoon temperatures will climb to around 4 degrees.

Tonight will see more wintry showers, in some places with hail, wet snow, and thunder. Minimums will range between -1 inland and +3 along the coast.