This winter is in the list of ten warmest winters since the start of the measurements, most likely in sixth place. The meteorological winter will end next Monday and that will almost certainly not change. The average temperature was almost 2 degrees higher than what is expected in the Netherlands these days.
The number of frosts this winter was about half the current average number of frost days. There was not a single day where the temperature during the day remained below zero. This was measured in De Bilt, just like all other measurements in this article. Today the mercury does not rise above zero on average about six days a year, around 1970 it was still eleven times a year.
A very long autumn
The question arises as to whether this type of winter, with virtually no frost or snow, only an occasional sunny day and an occasional storm, is the winter of the future.
Yes, says weather presenter and climate scientist Peter Kuipers Munneke. “Two or three centuries ago you had snow and ice every winter. Even up to fifty years ago it was normal to have winters with a lot of frost. But there is much less now. This winter of 2021/2022 is a good example of what winters will look like in fifty years. The winter in the future will be more like autumn. A very long autumn, lasting four or five months in a row.”
Winter most changing season
Winter will change character the most of all seasons, thinks Kuipers Munneke, even though all seasons will warm up further in the Netherlands. “With this you will still really have a spring feeling in the spring, the summer will be really warm and storms will occur in the autumn. But winter, with snow and ice as very characteristic features, will simply disappear in many winters.”
There is more often westerly wind in the Netherlands these days, which means more autumn-like weather. When it is really cold, the wind usually comes from Siberia and the Arctic. That’s where global warming goes two to three times as fast as the global average. As a result, if the wind comes from that corner, it is much less cold in the Netherlands than it used to be.
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