Seventh straight year with almost no ice; Second warmest winter on record

This was the seventh consecutive winter in which temperatures in the Netherlands did not drop to -10 degrees Celsius or lower at the weather station in De Bilt, according to Weeronline. This winter was also the second warmest winter since temperature measurements started in 1901, and included the wettest February on record.

According to Weeronline, the last time temperatures dropped to -10, described as 'severe frost', in the Netherlands was on January 25th, 2013. Before 2013, it never happened that there was no severe frost for more than three years in a row.

In the mid-1900's there was severe frost in De Bilt an average of four times in the period from end November to beginning March. That has since decreased to an average of just over once. "And at the end of this century, it will be normal for the winter to not have severe frost," Weeronline said, calling this a "characteristic of global warming."

With an average temperature of 6.4 degrees Celsius, this winter was also the second warmest winter since temperature measurements started in the Netherlands in 1901, meteorological institute KNMI said. The record for mildest winter is held by that of 2006/7 with an average temperature of 6.6 degrees. The usual average for winters in the Netherlands is 3.4 degrees.

The lowest temperature of this winter was -5.4 degrees measured in Maastricht on January 21st. The highest temperature was 18.1 degrees measured on February 16th, which went into the record books as the hottest February 16th ever in the Netherlands - the second heat record broken in 2020.