Record cold temps, snow possible on Sunday

After sunny, warm days the last few weeks in March, followed by an odd bit of snow on Thursday and Friday, temperatures in the Netherlands could plummet as low as -5 degrees Celsius. That would set a new record, beating the old record of -4.8 degrees, according to Weeronline.

The weekend will get underway on Saturday with a partly sunny day and winds out of the northeast. A low of -1 degrees was predicted, but that could rise to 7 degrees by midday. A stiff, cold wind will make it feel like freezing from time to time. The KNMI said that, “during the day the sun will shine regularly in the west and north of the country, more cloud fields will appear in the southeast. There will also be a few (winter) showers locally, but in most places it will remain dry.”

While the KNMI predicted this could fall down to -3 degrees overnight into Sunday, the meteorologists at Weeronline painted a gloomier picture. “It can even be -5 degrees. That would be a cold record for April 3,” meteorologist Rico Schröder told AD. He predicted sleet and hail for Sunday.

The KNMI said there was a chance of snow on Sunday, but that the mercury could rise up to 9 degrees. The wind will shift from out of the northwest, and eventually the temperature headed into Monday could fall back down to 1 degree.

Monday is expected to be soggier, with a 90 percent chance of precipitation. There is also a 60-90 percent chance of heavy wind gusts along the western coast, according to the KNMI. The wet weather should continue throughout the week, particularly on Wednesday.

On the plus side, the high temperature is expected to be 11 degrees through the first half of the week.