Earth Changes

The Netherlands: Coldest May 29th on record

Zack Newmark
NL Times
Fri, 30 May 2014 15:38 UTC

Thursday was the coldest May 29th on record, with temperatures at the country's meteorological headquarters in De Bilt, Utrecht never surpassing 12.0 degrees Celsius. The mercury did not rise higher than 12.3 degrees in 1983, the previous record for lowest high temperature, according to the Telegraaf newspaper.

Netherlanders and tourists were wise to spend Ascension Day in the far south of the country, where the sun managed to pierce through cloud cover, pushing temperatures up to 19 degrees.

Residents of Veluwe, Gelderland dealt with a frigid peak of 11.5 degrees, while other parts of the country saw daytime temperatures range between 10 and 11 degrees, reports WeerOnline.nl.

Twitter user @Carmenrosjee said today, "It looks like winter outside ... let's go to work."

The first recorded temperatures for May 29 were noted in 1901. It was not the coldest Ascension Day on record, which took place on May 12, 2010, with a high temperature of 9.2 degrees.

Comment: Compare this to: Record breaking temperatures as the Netherlands basks in the sun:

The temperature reached 19 Celsius at the De Bilt weather station near Hilversum on Sunday afternoon - the highest March 9 temperature ever recorded. Saturday was also a record-breaking day.

Also consider the following: April 2014 was the fifth month in a row with a place in the top 10 of warmest months since records began in the Netherlands. Such a series of mild months is very rare. Compare this to last year, when the Netherlands experienced the coldest Spring in 40 years.

Reader Comments

Third_Density_Learner · 2014-06-01T23:02:46Z

Insignificant statistic

Claiming that a particular date out of a 365-year calendar broke a particular record is absolutely insignificant. If it was the coldest day in May (the entire month) on record, then you'd have something worth reporting. May 28th and 30th may have had record low maximum temperatures less than 12 degrees recorded, so just because May 29th recorded such a temperature, means very little. Frankly the headline is embarrassing and the article should just be removed.

Oxajil · 2014-06-02T12:32:29Z

"Claiming that a particular date out of a 365-year calendar broke a particular record is absolutely insignificant"

I disagree. Paying attention to the smallest of details can be important, as it will help clarify the bigger picture. Notice that the temperature on May 29th was not the only day that broke a record as was noted in the comment. Also keep in mind that this particular temperature was not reached since records began for May in >1901<.

A lot has been going on weather-wise in the Netherlands, of which most are unaware of. This is why notifying such changes is important, even if they may seem small now.