Weather warning escalated in many parts of the Netherlands
A code orange weather warning was issued on Tuesday afternoon affecting the south and southwest of the country. The warning is for severe thunderstorms and winds that were expected to gust at over 100 kilometers per hour, according to the national weather agency KNMI.
Hail and heavy rains were predicted throughout much of the country, which could also see lightning and heavy wind gusts.
The warning is an escalation of the code yellow alert issued nationwide earlier in the day. Initially, only Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, and Noord-Brabant were at the orange level, but that changed after 10 p.m. to include Flevoland, Gelderland, Limburg, Noord-Holland, and Utrecht.
From late in the evening, long periods of flickering lightning could be seen across the skies over Utrecht and Noord-Holland, including Amsterdam.
The orange warning was in effect beginning at 6 p.m. Meteorologists had predicted that the troubling weather conditions would begin to subside by 9 p.m., but in most cases the alert was expanded to at least midnight. Many provinces will continue into code yellow weather conditions after the code orange warning is lifted.
The rest of the country was likely to experience unpleasant, but somewhat less harsh weather from 8 p.m through 2 a.m.
