Today is the warmest February 21 on record as temperatures hit over 17 °C

Temperatures climbed to 17.1 degrees Celsius at the national weather station in De Bilt on Friday, making this the warmest February 21 ever measured. This breaks the previous record of 16.9 degrees Celsius in 2021. It is the first official spring day of the year. Typically, the first spring or mild day happens around March 9, but early spring days have been common in recent years, Weeronline reported.

The first day of the year that temperatures reach 15.0 degrees Celsius in De Bilt is called the first official spring day or mild day. Last year, it happened on February 15. In 2023, it was on January 1 - an unbreakable record. Temperatures rose to 15.6 degrees in De Bilt on New Year’s Day 2023.

Over the period 1995-2024, the first spring day happened on March 9. But in recent years, it has been very common to get the first mild day of the year earlier. In 2022, it happened on March 10, but 2021, 2020, and 2019 all had their first spring day in February.

The latest first spring day on record was 1970, when thermometers topped 15 degrees in De Bilt for the first time on May 3.

Warm weather is also expected at the weekend, but the temparatures will not be as high as today with rain and cloudy weather expected on Saturday. Eight heat records were broken in total last year.