Belgium is having its hottest week in almost 200 years
The average maximum temperature for the past six days peaked to 33.5 Celsius, a record high since records in Ukkel began in 1833. The past week beat the previous mark set in the famous summer of 1976.
The present heat wave is setting new milestones. The Belgian Met Office issued a red alert because of the heat for several consecutive days, which was a first. Now, it turns out that the past seven days were the hottest since 1833. The rolling average of the maximum temperatures peaked to 33.5 Celsius, edging the 1976 record of 33.4 Celsius.
This being said, the historic 1976 heat wave and drought lasted longer: we had 15 tropical days then (with temperatures of at least 30 Celsius), while we "only" have 8 days at present. The heatwave is expected to continue some of days more, but temperatures should dip below 30 tomorrow., making sure that the 1976 record will keep standing.