Extreme weather: Intense heat up to 37°C and thundrestorm warnings in Nehterlands today

The Netherlands is in for another day of extreme weather. The ongoing intense heat warning - code orange in the southeast and code yellow in the rest of the country - will be joined by a thunderstorm warning later this afternoon. The Wadden Islands are the only part of the country not covered by some form of weather warning.

The hot weather in the Netherlands yesterday continued through the night and resulted in the first tropical night of this year, with minimums not dropping below 20 degrees Celsius, Weeronline reported. At the weather stations in the southwest of the country, the coldest moments were between 20 and 21.1 degrees.

Today, maximums will climb to between 35 and 37 degrees in the south and southeast, according to the KNMI. The code orange heat warning the meteorological institute issued for Noord-Brabant, Limburg, and Gelderland on Tuesday is, therefore, still in place. The heat should lift a bit by around 6:00 p.m. this evening, the KNMI expects.

Inland maximums in the rest of the Netherlands will climb to between 30 and 34 degrees, and the coastal areas will be a few degrees cooler. The Wadden Islands will reach highs of around 25 degrees. A code yellow heat warning is in place for all the other provinces, also until this evening.

At around 2:00 p.m., a code yellow warning for thunderstorms also takes effect in the eastern half of the country. Storms may be accompanied by heavy downpours and can disrupt outside activities and traffic, the KNMI warned. The warning covers Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel, Flevoland, Gelderland, Utrecht, Noord-Brabant, and Limburg. The KNMI expects to lift the storm warning in the north by 5:00 p.m. and in the south by 8:00 p.m.

During the afternoon, the wind will turn to the northwest and bring cooler air into the Nehterlands. Temperatures will start dropping from the west. Thursday will be noticeably cooler throughout the country, with maximums ranging between 20 and 25 degrees, north to south. The day will see plenty of sunshine, interrupted by a few clouds. No rain is expected, and the northwesterly wind will be moderate to weak.

This weather picture will last until Saturday, after which there will be more wind and showers, and lower maximums for a few days.