Belgium hasn’t experienced so much rainfall as last spring and winter since records began, measurements conducted by the Belgian Met Office show. May was a very wet month but did not break any records.
591 millimetres of water fell from the heavens in Ukkel (where the Met Office is based) since the start of the meteorological winter on 1 December 2023. Not since measurements began in 1833 have the six months of winter and spring been so rained out. The previous record dates from 1877, when 557 mm of rainfall was counted.
The present record is set to rise even further as meteorological spring still runs until tomorrow. Some 3 to 5 mm may have to be added.
Meteorological spring too set new records. With 280.9 mm of rain this was the third wettest spring on record. A record - barring a major and unexpected cloudburst in Ukkel - is no longer in sight. In 1965, 299.7 mm of rainfall was recorded.
This May, however, with 120.6 mm of rainfall, was the 9th wettest since 1833. The figure is double the average for the past 30 years.
‘Keep in mind that these are the rain figures recorded in Ukkel,’ says VRT weather forecaster Jacotte Brokken. ‘Locally, much more rain fell in places, for example in the Voer region.’
Dry spells and thunderstorms this summer
There is, however, also good news: we might not get a rained-out summer. ‘Weather models are not that clear, but probably the summer will be more or less average, with dry spells interspersed with thunderstorms,’ says Pascal Mormal of the Met Office. For the time being a lengthy drought is not on the cards.
‘Because we have had so much rain, the soil is saturated with water. As a result, more moisture can evaporate, humidity rises and with it too the chance of rain. A dry summer is more likely after a dry spring, but that is not always the case.’
Summer is also likely to be slightly warmer than average, but Mormal adds: ‘Predicting the weather months in advance is always difficult.’