Never before has so much rain been recorded in Belgium than this year. So far 1088.8 mm of precipitation have been recorded at the Met Office in Ukkel (Brussels) this year. It is already more than the record of 1088.5 mm set in 2001. It is especially the number of days with heavy rainfall in 2024 that has led to this record.
The Met Office made the announcement yesterday: 2024 is going to be the wettest year in Belgium since records started being compiled in Ukkel. Today, David Dehenauw, head of the Scientific Weather Forecasting Service in Ukkel, broke the news that the pluviometer at the Met Office that measures rainfall had already recorded 1088.8 mm of precipitation since 1 January. And that sets a new record.
It is quite remarkable: the record was set after it rained or snowed on only 189 days. For the time being, this puts 2024 in 132nd place in the rankings compiled since 1833. Even if it rained every day until the end of the year, which is unlikely, the figure would only rise to 224 days and that is well below the record set in 1974 record, when it rained on 266 days. If it did rain on 224 days this year, 2024 would feature on the 26th spot in the ranking of the highest annual number of rainfall days.
This year’s record is largely due to the relatively high number of days with heavy rainfall. A day qualifies as a day with heavy rainfall for the Met Office when 20 mm or more precipitation is recorded. 2024 already counts 11 days of heavy precipitation. Only in 2004 were there more: 12 days. This too is a record that is now set to be broken this year.