Flooded streets and traffic problems were the result of heavy rains in the Netherlands on Monday afternoon and night. Oost-Brabant and the Nijmegen-Arnhem region were most affected. Between 20 and 40 millimeters of rain fell in a short period in the east and west of the country, AD reports.
Nature
Aug 13 '18 08:40
So far this year the Netherlands had 51 summer days - days on which temperatures climbed to 25 degrees or higher in De Bilt, according to Weeronline. 2006 also had 51 summer days, but spread over the entire year.
Sunday was the 51st summer day of 2018. Only one more hot day is needed to break the 2006 record. This may happen on Wednesday or Thursday, when maximums of around 25 degrees are expected. Temperatures also often climb to above 25 degrees in late August and September, according to Weeronline. In 2006 the 51st summer day only happened on September 22nd.
Aug 10 '18 15:10
If the Netherlands' average temperature rises by 3 degrees due to global warming, the country will be too hot for nearly 500 plant species, according to research Wageningen University published on Thursday. That is around 40 percent of all plant species in the country, ANP reports.
Plants that will disappear with 3 degree temperature increase include the wild strawberry, the Gentiana cruciata, the Linnaea borealis and the Cornus suecica, according to the researchers.
Aug 10 '18 14:20
The Groningen city of Appingedam was hit by two earthquakes in two days time. The earthquakes happened on Wednesday and Thursday, and both registered 1.9 on the Richter scale, according to meteorological institute KNMI.
Multiple people reported feeling the quakes, Dagblad van het Noorden reports. Some also reported hearing a bang with Thursday's earthquake.
Over the past two weeks there were eight small earthquakes in the gas extraction area in Groningen:
Aug 10 '18 09:31
The Dutch Rescue Brigade is extra busy this year with helping swimmers who get into trouble. In the hot period between July 2nd and August 5th, the rescue brigade responded to help swimmers 3,259 times, compared to 3,800 times in the entire summer of 2017. Director Koen Breedveld blames this mainly on decreasing swimming skills, he said to newspaper AD.
Aug 10 '18 08:01
A summer storm that blew across the Netherlands overnight was less severe than the weather services expected. Meteorological institute KNMI withdrew its code orange weather warning for very strong winds just after 11:30 p.m., earlier than expected, RTL Nieuws reports.
Aug 9 '18 14:50
Meteorological institute KNMI issued a code orange warning for very strong winds in the western parts of the country. On Thursday night and early on Friday morning gusts between 80 and 110 kilometers per hour are expected.
The code orange warning applies to Zeeland, Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland, Flevoland, Friesland and the Wadden islands. A code yellow warning applies to the rest of the country, where wind speeds are expected to reach between 75 and 90 kilometers per hour.
Aug 9 '18 10:10
A summer storm will hit the Netherlands on Thursday, according to Weeronline. Meteorological institute KNMI issued a code yellow warning for strong winds during the evening.
Aug 9 '18 09:09
The hot weather in the Netherlands over the past weeks did not cause an increase in the number of deaths in the country, public health institute RIVM said. According to the institute, this is because many people who were already weakened passed away in the winter, and because the Dutch are getting better at protecting themselves against the heat, AD reports.
Aug 8 '18 07:47
Four campsites were evacuated due to a large forest fire in the Drenthe town of Wateren on Tuesday afternoon. Around 75 hectares of heathland burned down. The fire department got the fire under control around 9:00 p.m., but some 150 firefighters worked throughout the night to extinguish it completely, RTL Nieuws reports
Aug 7 '18 08:32
Dozens of Dutch tourists are still stuck on and around Lombok after a massive earthquake hit the Indonesian island on Sunday. Evacuations are chaotic. All departing flights are fully booked and there are long queues at the airport. And boats are struggling to evacuate the mass of people, relatives of stranded Dutch told newspaper AD.
Aug 7 '18 08:01
Tuesday will still be very hot in the Netherlands, but after Wednesday temperatures will drop to what is normal for August, according to Weerplaza. The weather service expects maximums of between 20 and 25 degrees later this week.
Maximums ranging between 30 and 37 degrees are expected for Tuesday. Cloud cover will increase from the afternoon, and there is a chance of showers or thunderstorms overnight.
Aug 7 '18 07:31
There is a good chance of smog in the entire Netherlands on Tuesday, public health institute RIVM warns. Those sensitive to dirty air, for example people with respiratory problems, are advised to stay inside, especially during the afternoon and early evening, RTL Nieuws reports.
"For the entire country, air quality can be bad, but the highest concentrations are expected in the east", the RIVM said. The smog will be at its worst during the afternoon and early evening.
Aug 6 '18 15:30
As far as is known, no Dutch were killed in a severe earthquake that hit the Indonesian island of Lombok on Sunday. Some Dutch were injured, but their injuries are not serious, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said to RTL Nieuws.
Aug 6 '18 08:12
A group of 30 children and 16 adults camping in nature reserve 't Zand had to flee from a forest fire on Sunday evening. Although the flames did not actually reach their tents near Fransebaan, the fire came very close. The kids and their minders fled the forest with what they could carry, Brabants Dagblad reports.
Aug 6 '18 07:50
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit the Indonesian island of Lombok on Sunday afternoon. At least 91 people were killed, hundreds were injured and thousands of homes were destroyed. The earthquake also destroyed a children's home run by Dutch man Chaim Fetter. "It is a massive tragedy. You build something for 14 years and it is destroyed in less than 10 seconds. But luckily all the children are unharmed", he said to NOS.
Aug 3 '18 12:10
Vegetable giant Greenco is giving away some 6 million cherry tomatoes for free. Due to the hot weather, the tomatoes saw too much sun, causing their skin to become wrinkled. They can therefore no longer be sold because their quality is too low for supermarkets.
Aug 3 '18 08:28
There is officially a nationwide water shortage in the Netherlands, but the drinking water is not in danger, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. As the drought is expected to continue in the coming weeks, more measures may be taken to distribute the available water as well as possible, NU.nl reports.
Aug 2 '18 13:40
Public health institute RIVM again implemented the National Heat Plan for Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Gelderland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Drenthe. Temperatures in these parts of the country will climb to between 30 and 35 degrees in the coming days, and minimums will not drop much below 20 degrees, according to meteorological institute KNMI.
The RIVM warns people in these provinces to stay hydrated, wear thin clothing that provide protection against the sun, stay in the shade, regularly apply sunscreen, and limit physical exertion during the hottest parts of the day.
Aug 2 '18 11:10
Over 2,700 volunteers are participating in the sixth edition of the Boskalis Beach Cleanup Tour, the annual cleaning action organized by the North Sea Foundation. Over the next two weeks, they will clean up the entire stretch of North Sea beaches in the Netherlands, the Telegraaf reports.
The cleanup started on Wednesday with two teams of volunteers - one team starting at Cadzand in the south and the other at Schiermonnikoog. Each day the cleaning teams will get closer to each other, until they finish together in Zandvoort.
Aug 1 '18 09:01
Nature lovers who look forward to a purple Posbank each summer, will be disappointed this year, according to naturalist Gerrit Jansen. The heather that turns the hills purple with its blossoms is withered by the persistent drought and will hardly bloom this year, he said to De Gelderlander.
Every year the purple glow over the hills of the Posbank - a national attraction - attracts thousands of visitors in the second half of August. This year they will be disappointed.
Aug 1 '18 08:35
Meteorologists expect that the Netherlands may face a second national heatwave by the end of this week. Over the coming week maximum temperatures of above 25 degrees, and sometimes even above 30 degrees, are expected.
For a national heatwave, the weather station at De Bilt must measure maximums of 25 degrees or above for five consecutive days, and three of those days must have maximums of 30 degrees or higher. "It is quite possible that we will reach that again at the end of this week. Then we'll have a second national heatwave", weatherman Maarten Stam said to RTL Nieuws.
Jul 31 '18 09:15
This July was the driest ever since rainfall measurements started in the Netherlands. Only 11 millimeters of rain fell nation wide this month, breaking the previous record of 16 millimeters in July 1921, Weeronline reported on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the last day in July, there is a chance of some rain in the north and west of the country. At most another 1 millimeter of rain will fall. Weeronline therefore feels safe to say the record is broken.
Jul 30 '18 11:30
The Netherlands is "blind to drought" according to researcher Henny van Lanen of Wageningen University. The country needs to build up larger reserves of fresh water to prevent drinking water running out during extreme droughts, multiple experts warn, Het Parool reports.
"As a low lying country with large rivers, we are always working on preventing wetness. That explains why we are now so surprised by the drought", Van Lanen said to the newspaper. "Dutch water policy is very conservative: the rest of Europe has been arming itself against drought for much longer."
