It’s official: summer has (finally) arrived! This spring may have left us thirsting for sunny skies and warmer temperatures, but June is here and has brought with it some much-needed change. As temperatures soar this week, it is perhaps unsurprising that Tuesday, June 1, marked the Netherlands' first official summer day of 2021.
In order to officially be considered a summer day, temperatures in De Bilt - a town near Utrecht and home to the Dutch Weather Institute - must reach at least 25 degrees at some point during the day.
According to meteorologists at Weerplaza, this happened on Tuesday! At around 3.50pm, a temperature of 25,2 degrees was recorded in De Bilt, marking the Netherlands’ first summer day since September 2020. Temperatures soared across the country, but the highest recorded was in Woensdrecht in North Brabant, where the thermometer hit 26 degrees.
This year’s first day of summer comes over two weeks behind schedule, as the Netherlands typically enjoys these weather conditions in mid-May. The earliest summer day ever recorded was in 2007, when temperatures rose to 27,6 degrees on April 14 - but don’t worry, 2021 is still looking pretty good compared to 1906, where the first summer day wasn’t recorded until July 18!
The good news is the warm weather is here to stay. Wednesday could see temperatures rise as high as 28 degrees in Maastricht, Eindhoven, Breda, Tilburg, and Den Bosch. Up north, temperatures will probably peak at 22 to 24 degrees, meanwhile, Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam can look forward to temperatures ranging from 26 to 28 degrees.
After Wednesday, temperatures could still reach as high as 27 in some parts of the country, but consider yourself warned: it’s not going to be as sunny as the last couple of days have been. From Friday, clouds descend and the chance of rain and storms increases, but the good news is the sun is set to return on Sunday.