2026 already has most snow days in five years; Snow increasingly rare in Dutch winters

Seven days into 2026, and the Netherlands has already had the most snow days it's had in five years. The national weather station in De Bilt has had snow for six days this year. The last time it snowed more was in 2021, when it snowed in De Bilt on 12 days. Snow is increasingly rare in Dutch winters.

The record number of snow days since weather measurement started dates from 1979, ANP found when analyzing data from the meteorological institute KNMI. In that year, it snowed in De Bilt on 61 days.

The 2010 calendar year also had a lot of snow at 56 days. That year was also the last time the Netherlands had a “white Christmas” - snow on December 25 and 26.

“Snow isn’t something that happens every winter, not even in the past,” Peter Siegund of the KNMI told NOS. “But it’s simply happening less often this century. I have graphs dating back to the 1950s, and they simply show: there used to be significantly more snow than in this century.”

“And that’s not surprising,” Siegmund said, referring to global warming. “The temperature has risen by 2 degrees. There’s more rain, especially in the winter. We’ve only had one cold spell this century. In the last century, it happened about every three years.”