The Saturday day temperature could climb to 15, 16 or locally even 17 degrees Celsius tomorrow. This would make it the warmest New Year's Eve since records began in 1833. The mild spell is caused by subtropical air being brought to our region by strong sea winds, but climate change is also to blame. The normal maximum temperature for this time of year is around 6 degrees.
Belgium bound to have its warmest New Year's Eve on record, "10 degrees above the normal temperature"
Michaël Torfs
Published:
The (possible) record is even more striking taking into account that last year's New Year's Eve also set an all-time record. The maximum temperature in the Met Office's main measuring station in Ukkel reached 14.0 Celsius on 31 December last year. This milestone is almost sure to be passed. The price we will pay comes in the form of a very windy and rainy day.
Temperatures will drop as from Sunday, to reach 6 degrees on Tuesday. As from Tuesday, the weather should become drier while temperatures will climn again to reach around 10 Celsius in the second half of next week.
The continuing mild spell may be good news for our heating bill, but it is another alarming sign of climate change. Last year also had a particularly mild spell around 1 January, with different records being set, and the accumulation of day records is a clear sign of global heating.
"Since the year 2000, we saw 146 new day records for maximum temperatures in Ukkel", the VRT's weather presenter Frank Deboosere explains. "This compares to 27 day records being set between 1833 and 1914." In other words, over the past 22 years we set five times as many new "records" as previously in an 80-year-spell.