January 2020: Winter is nowhere to be seen in the Netherlands

Some of you, like us, may be wondering where all the snow is and everything else that comes with the winter weather in the Netherlands. Well, it seems as though we might not be getting any of the typical winter weather this month, according to weather models.

A mild January

In their forecast, Weerplaza reports that January is probably going to be too mild. This is not surprising, as max temperatures of 5C are normal in January and this week some days are expected to get up to 10C – 13C. It’s not just this week which will see above-average temperatures, it looks like the whole month will see warmer than usual temperatures. Of course, this doesn’t mean that there won’t be a few nights that see frost. However, it doesn’t look like January has much more to offer than that in terms of wintry weather.

The warmer weather has even lead to hay-fever warnings due to catkins being produced much earlier than normal. Yes, you read that right, hay-fever warnings! The amount of rainfall predicted by the weather models for this month is pretty much normal. It has to be said though that rainfall is measured in millimetres, not in the length of time that it rains. So, it may be drizzling for a long time, like it has been recently, meaning that you’ll get just as wet, but less rain will have fallen.

Still time for winter to arrive

Don’t fret, winter has only really just begun and lasts until March, so there is enough time yet for Jack Frost to show his face. For wintry weather to happen though, we need easterly winds – remember the Beast from the East which hit in 2018? At the moment, we are getting warm winds from the southwest. It is difficult to accurately predict the weather beyond two weeks, so, who knows, maybe we will get a cold February.