Belgium records its second-warmest winter ever

Now that winter 2013/2014 is nearing its imminent conclusion, the stats are in and it is official: this winter has been the second warmest ever recorded for Belgium, or since record-keeping began in 1833. And as earlier reported in the Bulletin, you need only to ask winter clothing retailers how warm it was. 

Only three times over the past winter did the temperature actually fall below zero. This statistic is a winner for the record books. To complement the mild season, only day of snow was recorded in Brussels, and that was only in Uccle/Ukkel. During the average winter cycle, snow days usually hit 13.

Not only was the winter a warm one, but it was an un-Brussels-like one without a lot of rain. This winter the sun shone for 217 hours, a major increase over the average of 180. This year’s occurrence is something only seen roughly once a decade.

Belgium’s February stands out with its warm lows. Although the average high was higher than normal, but was close to the usual mark, 9.4° compared to 6.6°C, the lows averaged 4.1°C, much higher than the usual Belgian average of 0.7°C.