uprooted tree netherlands
© Ruud SeverijnsA tree was uprooted during a storm in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant on June 18th, 2021.
The past year in the Netherlands was not only catastrophic in terms of the 'scamdemic', with yet another lockdown imposed lasting through Christmas and New Year's, the weather was also extreme, with multiple destructive storms and floods. Below are some highlights from this year's extreme weather events in the Netherlands.

Storms and strong winds

tree fell car
© Roland Heiting/persbureau HeitinkA tree fell on a car in the Dutch city of Arnhem due to storm Christoph on January 21nd, 2021.
The year started with storm Christoph making its way through the west coast and eastern parts of the country, with strong winds of 90-127 km/h, uprooting trees, and tipping over a truck on the highway in late January. Trees fell on multiple vehicles and on roads due to the storm. Two months later, in March, storm Evert hit the country with strong winds of up to 120 km/h. Many citizens reported damage to their property.

During the storm, a fallen tree injured a woman and a child in the Dutch city of Den Bosch, a large tree landed on a house in Maastricht, and another tree landed on a man in Bemelen who sadly passed away from his injuries. According to estimates of the association of insurers, the storm caused around €30 million euros in damages. In May, more strong winds caused damage and an uprooted tree cost the life of a 43-year-old man from the Dutch city of Groningen.

In June, a storm caused flooding and yet more uprooted trees. One person wrote on Facebook "Last night a strong storm hit our garden house. A large walnut tree and oak tree didn't make it. Some trees in the area have also been uprooted."


The storm brought with it heavy rainfall and hailstones of 2-4 cm as seen in the following footage from the Dutch village of Leersum:


Six residents of Leersum were slightly injured, and two seriously injured. One man was injured when a crane tipped over in high winds, while a woman was hit by detached roof material. The strong winds also caused seven gas leaks in the village, and four transmission towers collapsed.

Heavy rainfall and floods

tunnel flood netherlands
© DCI MediaFlooding at the Boschdijktunnel in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on June 3rd, 2021.
In February, large amounts of rain and snow in Germany and Switzerland caused the water in the major Dutch rivers to rise to flood levels. The level of the Rhine reached its highest at the border with Germany; 14.53 m above Amsterdam Ordnance Datum at the measuring point, which caused some overflowing. In early June, the situation became more serious, as heavy rainfall of up to 70 mm (more than half of the average amount for June) caused floods in streets, basements, a cinema and tunnels in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant.

Other parts of the country were also affected, including farmers in the east who saw their crops inundated. A couple of weeks later, on June 21st, another heavy rainfall of up to 60 mm of rain hit the country causing widespread flooding. Yet more farmers were plagued with destructive rainfall as a month's worth of rain fell in a couple of days in the region de Achterhoek. Two days later, on June 29th, heavy rainfall of up to 100 mm in places caused destructive floods in the streets in Zuid-Limburg:


It didn't end in June, as August saw more heavy rainfall up north and elsewhere, with up to 87,3 mm on August 22nd. One weather station in the north of the Netherlands however measured 132,7 mm! The sheets of rain caused yet more flooding:


Despite the chaos, some people tried to make the best of it!



2021 saw the most days of heavy rainfall on record for the Netherlands with 19 days of rainfall of more than 50 mm. This broke the 2006 record of 16 days with heavy rainfall. Heavy rains occurred again in early November, with more flooding across the country.

Cold wave and record-breaking low temperatures

Mid, southern and eastern parts of the Netherlands experienced a regional cold wave from February 7th until February 14th with consistently well below freezing temperatures at night. The last time the Netherlands saw such a freeze was January 2013. The Dutch municipality of Hupsel recorded a low temperature of -16,2 degrees Celsius. Cold temperatures were also measured in April.

This year's Easter Monday, April 5th, was the coldest since 2013, with a recorded temperature of 8.5 degrees Celsius. Some snow fell during the month of April, and temperatures were mostly around 5 to 6 degrees Celsius, making it a cold April compared to the average temperatures for the month (11-14 degrees Celsius). In fact, the first half of April 2021 was the coldest of this century; it hadn't been this cold during the first half of April in 35 years! Fruit growers especially were having a hard time during April as their fruit crops struggled to survive.

Snowfall

snow may netherlands
© WeerplazaNot December, but May! Snowfall in the Dutch city of Den Bosch on May 7th, 2021.
2021 hasn't just been stormy, windy, rainy, and cold, but also snowy! On February 7th, The Netherlands experienced its first snowstorm in about 10 years. The Dutch city of Twente, de Achterhoek and the region around the Dutch city of Nijmegen saw the most snow, of up to 20 cm. On April 7th, almost 20 cm of snow fell on the southernmost mountain Vaalserberg.

The south, particularly provinces Oost-Brabant and Limburg, saw up to 5-7 cm of snow. April 7th was one of the snowiest April days since measures began. Other parts of the country also woke up to a white landscape on this day. May wasn't left out either, as snow made a rare appearance. On May 7th, hail and snow fell in the Dutch city of 's -Hertogenbosch and elsewhere. In late November a bit of snow fell in western parts of the country, including the Hague. On December 7th, snowfall of up to 3 cm was reported in many places:


Whirlwinds and tornadoes
tornado leerdam netherlands
© Donny KardienaalA small tornado made a short appearance close to the Dutch city of Leerdam on September 10th, 2021.
On May 25th, a whirlwind left a trail of destruction in the Dutch village of Nijverdal (southeast), uprooting trees, fences, and damaging 22 houses. On September 10th, near the Dutch city of Leerdam (central NL), a rare tornado made a short appearance. The most destructive whirlwinds occurred on October 21st, however, where two whirlwinds caused a lot of damage and wounded four people In the southern Dutch city of Barendrecht.

There were flying fences and garden sheds, branches and roof tiles that broke windows, fallen trees and damaged cars. According to weather station Weer.nl, this much damage caused by whirlwinds is rare. The last time a tornado or whirlwind left such a trail of damage in the Netherlands was on June 4, 2019, in Rheden (mideast). Dutch newspaper AD reported that the two 'whirlwinds' were in fact tornadoes considering how powerful they were. On the same day, October 21st, a tornado also touched down in the Dutch city of 's-Heerenberg (mideast):


Meteors/fireballs

At least one meteor/fireball was observed in the skies above the Netherlands this past year. On January 22nd, a a green glowing space rock was seen by many in most parts of the country. A Twitter user posted the following footage:


Northern lights
northern lights netherlands
© Bauke en Marion van DijkA faint orange and purple glow was captured as northern lights appeared in the sky above the Dutch province of Friesland on Friday night April 16th, 2021.
Due to the cooling weather, increasing cometary and volcanic dust in the atmosphere, northern lights have appeared in the sky above the Netherlands several times throughout 2021. On Friday night April 16th, northern lights were spotted in the sky in the Dutch provinces of Friesland en Noord-Holland. All the way up north in the Dutch village of Lauwersoog, northern lights were seen on May 13th. The sky had a purple color, and in other northern areas some green was also visible:


Dutch news site NOS reported that the last time northern lights were this visible in the country was 5 years ago. More northern lights appeared on October 31st in the north of the Netherlands:

On November 4th, northern lights appeared once more in the skies above the north of the country, including the western part of the Dutch province of Noord-Holland. The sky tinted green, pinkish and purple:

northern lights netherlands
© Kees ZwaanNorthern lights appeared in the sky in Egmond aan Zee on November 4th, 2021.
Sinkholes

sinkhole amsterdam
© AT5A sinkhole appeared in Amsterdam on January 4th, 2021.
Sinkholes were yet again a common phenomenon during 2021; almost every month one or more sinkhole events were reported. On January 4th, a sinkhole appeared in a street in Amsterdam. On March 23rd, another sinkhole was discovered in Amsterdam. On April 24th, a small sinkhole appeared in the Dutch village of Oene (mideast) in the middle of the street. On the same day, a 2.5 m deep sinkhole appeared in the street in the northern province Groningen. In the Dutch city of Soest (mid), a streetlight succumbed to a sinkhole on May 5th.

On June 26th, a car got stuck in a sinkhole in the Dutch city of Roosendaal (southwest). On July 10th, a sinkhole appeared in the Dutch city of Meppel (southwest), followed by a large sinkhole in a southeastern village, damaging part of the road on July 18th. Another large sinkhole appeared near a supermarket in a village in the northeast. On September 22nd, a driver found her car suddenly stuck in a sinkhole in the Dutch village of Hillegom (southwest). In the southwestern province Deventer, three sinkholes appeared on October 5th.

sinkhole deventer
© News United/Rens HulmanOne of three sinkholes that appeared in the Dutch province of Deventer on October 5th, 2021.
On November 29th, in the Dutch city of Middelburg, a woman was walking in her garden in the evening when, suddenly, a deep sinkhole opened up beneath her. She fell in, and found herself unable to get out, because ground level was now at the height of her shoulders, it took two hours for rescue services to get her out.

In short

In short, while it's a small country in western Europe, the Netherlands experienced many extreme and rare weather events throughout 2021, and these are likely to intensify in coming years. Explanations of why these events are occurring can be found in the highly recommended book: Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection by Pierre Lescaudron and Laura Knight-Jadczyk. For worldwide weather events, watch our SOTT Earth Changes Summaries.