Netherlands on Friday

Thursday night was one of the coldest October nights on record. Twenthe
airfield near the German border reported -8.4°C minimum - just 0.1°C above
the record October low of -8.5°C at Winterswijk (east of Arnhem) on 28th
October 1931.

At De Bilt - where the record goes back to 1901 - it was the 3rd coldest
October night ever and only the 5th October night below -5°C.

10 KNMI stations reported -6°C or lower and 5 reported their coldest October
night ever in records going back 50 years or more - Twenthe, Deelen,
Gilze-Rijen, Eindhoven and Maastricht.

Thursday night's min. temps
http://www.knmi.nl/voorl/kd/produkt/kaart_mintemp.html 2003-10-24

Hupsel, Eindhoven and Ell -6.4°C, Deelen -6.5°C, Soesterberg and
Gilze-Rijen -6.7°C, Herwijnen -7.5°C, Twenthe -8.4°C.

Late in the night outbreaks of rain accompanied by hail and thunder reached
the NW coast. As the precipitation moved inland it turned to snow. Some
outbreaks of moderate to heavy snow - even with thunder in places - led to a
snow cover of up to 5 cm
http://www.knmi.nl/voorl/kd/produkt/kaart_sneeuw.html 2003-10-24

Last October snow in the Netherlands - as in Flanders - was on 13th October
1975.

Photos of snow on Friday morning taken by Karel Holvoet of the Flemish
amateur observers' group http://www.phys.uu.nl/~holvoet/sneeuw.htm and
http://www.phys.uu.nl/~holvoet/sneeuw2.htm
Location is between Utrecht and the area to the west of Arnhem and Nijmegen
in the centre of the Netherlands.

Friday's max. temps up to midnight
http://www.knmi.nl/voorl/kd/produkt/kaart_maxtemp.html 2003-10-24

Max. temps measured at 18.00 UTC - Deelen 2.0°C, Volkel 2.3°C, Twenthe,
Hupsel and Arcen 2.5°C, Eindhoven and Ell 3.4°C.

Highest rainfall totals - Hoorn on Terschelling and Hoek van Holland 5 mm,
Berkhout and Vlissingen 6 mm, Wijk aan Zee 7 mm, Den Helder 14 mm.

Location of KNMI stations
http://www.knmi.nl/voorl/maand/images/stations.jpg

Colin Youngs
Brussels