Paulien van de Loo PHOTOGRAPHY

July 2020 was the coldest July since 2012

According to figures released by the Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI) July 2020 was cooler than average. In fact last most was the coolest July since 2012.  Certainly when compared with July last year this July was relatively cold with temperatures at KMI’s Ukkel Weather Centre in Brussels being below average for much of the month. 

Last month the average temperature at Ukkel was 17.9°C. This is 0.5°C lower than the average temperature for the month of July since records began of 18.4°C. The last time average temperatures were cooler in July than they were this year was back in July 2012.  Then temperatures at the Ukkel Weather Centre averaged 17.3°C.

The first day in July when temperatures topped 25°C was July 23. Temperatures topped 25°C on just four days. This compares with an average of nearly 10 days in a normal July. It wasn’t until the last day of the month, Friday 31 July, that temperatures exceeded 30°C.

Then a top temperature of a sweltering 36.5°C was recorded at Ukkel. Although this is very warm it is still well below the all-time record of 39.7°C that was recorded at the Ukkel Weather Centre on 25 July last year.  

On Friday 31 July 2020 the highest temperature in the country was recorded at Hérinnes in Hainaut Province. There temperatures reached 38°C. The lowest temperature recorded last month (2.7°C) was on 7 July at Elsenborn in the East of Liège Province.

Less rain than in an average July

During last month there was less rain than during an average July. 47.4mm of rain fell at Ukkel last month. This compares to an average of 73.5mm of rain in an average July.

Nevertheless it rained on more days than normal: 17 days rather than 14.3. The amount of rain that fell was below average throughout the country. However, there were big variations in the shortfall.

In Belgian Loraine, in the south of Luxembourg Province the shortfall was 20%, while at the coast and in the area around Herve in the north of Liège Province the amount of rain that fell was 70% less than in an average July. 

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