Will a heatwave be declared this week or will we just miss it? That now hangs in the balance.
Whether Belgium officially experiences another official heatwave or not quite this week depends on the temperature recorded at the Met Office (RMI) in Ukkel (Brussels) today and in coming days. “Yesterday, 30 degrees Celsius was not recorded in Ukkel (though it was at other RMI monitoring stations),” says VRT weather presenter Bram Verbruggen. “We did reach 30 degrees on Sunday. That means we still need two more days with temperatures of 30 degrees or higher in Ukkel for a heatwave to be declared.”
The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) defines a nationwide heatwave as a period during which maximum temperatures in Ukkel reach at least 25 degrees for at least five consecutive days, with at least three of those days reaching 30 degrees or more.
According to weather presenter Bram Verbruggen, it will be slightly warmer today than yesterday, with maximum temperatures of 28 to 33 degrees. However, it is not yet certain whether temperatures in Ukkel will reach 30 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday.
For many people, the heat now feels more bearable than it did at the end of June. “That’s thanks to the north-easterly wind,” Verbruggen explains.