No less than 360 millimetres of rain has fallen since the start of summer, a number which will probably earn it a place in the top-three of wettest summers ever. July was the main culprit, bringing an amount of precipitation rivalled only by July 1966. So far, rainfall this month has been ‘fairly normal’.

As is only to be expected in a summer which sees record amounts of rainfall, there has been very little sunshine. We got about 150 hours worth, compared to the 700 recorded last year and 690 hours in 2009.

There weren’t many warm days either: just seven summer days (with an average temperature of more than 25 degrees Celsius) and two tropical ones (warmer than 30 degrees Celsius) compared to 21 summer days and 3.8 tropical ones in a ‘normal’ summer.

The only thing that was normal about this summer was the average temperature of 16.5 degrees Celsius compared to 17 degrees in a normal summer. June was half a degree warmer than average, July two degrees colder, August has – again – been fairly normal: 17.5 degrees on average.

The only thing there was in plenty was extreme weather. Five weather warnings were issued until today, four of them in the past week. Experts say this is exceptional, and hardly ever seen even in winter.

(gsh)

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide