Just 19 minutes of sunlight in first week of year

Belgium isn't famous for its sunshine - but the first week of January was even greyer and gloomier than usual, with just 19 minutes of sunlight.

On New Year's Day and over the weekend, not a single minute of sunshine was recorded at the Royal Meteorological Institute's observatory in Uccle.

It's all down to an anticyclone which has brought in damp and cloudy weather. The 19 minutes in a week compare with an average for this time of year of 15 hours 49 minutes.

But it could be worse - Paris saw just four minutes of sunlight in the first week of 2019.

"We won't beat the record," said meteorologist David Dehenauw. "In January 1992, there were just 30 minutes of sunshine in the whole month."

Photo: Bruno Fahy/Belga