2014 is Belgium’s warmest year ever

The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) reports that 2014 has been the warmest year ever recorded in Belgium, with an average temperature of 11.9°C: 0.3°C warmer than the previous record in 2011.

Winter officially began yesterday in Belgium, but there is still no sign of wintry weather in the country. And the RMI confirms that 2014 has been the warmest year in Belgium since the beginning of the temperature recordings in 1833.

RMI reports that 2014 started out warmer than usual, with January temperatures reaching far above average. Only May and June were average in terms of temperature. August stood out as one of the coldest months of the year. But this was followed by a warmer than average autumn.

The trend is not only limited to Belgium: since the beginning of this year, temperatures worldwide have reached on average 0.68°C above the 20th-century average temperature of 14.1°C.