The first six months of 2020 were the sunniest in the history of the Netherlands, and two degrees warmer than the average. But the weather has taken a sharp turn - has true Dutch summer weather returned?

A sunny spring

2020 may have started off wet, grey, and dreary, but the weather took a turn in March as the number of hours of sunshine rose significantly. This spring has set the record for hours of sun, with 805 hours in total, beating 2011’s record of 713 hours of sunshine.

In total, the first six months of this year saw 1.158 hours of sunshine, significantly higher than the previous record of 1.119 hours in 2003.

The increase in sunshine coincided with the Netherlands going into lockdown because of the coronavirus in March. Martijn Dorrestien, meteorologist at Buienradar, suggested that the reduction in air traffic because of the pandemic resulted in fewer clouds and therefore more sunshine. But now that travel has started up again and more planes are flying, we can expect to see a return to the average levels.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Not only was the first half of this year sunnier, but it was also warmer than normal. The average temperature for January to July is 8,4 degrees, but this year saw an average of 10,3. 2020 has so far also been a drier year than usual, with only 355 millimetres of rain in total.

Now what?

Last week saw us suffering through tropical temperatures across the country, but since Saturday, the days have been cooler, greyer, and indeed wetter. It would seem we have returned to true Dutch summer weather.

The rest of this week will see rain showers across the country, with some wind and a little bit of sunshine if we’re lucky, and highs of 21 degrees. 

This weekend will be windy and cloudy but it should stay dry in most of the country. The temperature will hit a high of 22 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday.