It’s unprecedented. Belgium officially experienced its first recorded heatwave in September this week. To consider that the country is going through a heat wave, it is necessary to record five days in a row of maximum temperatures exceeding 25 degrees, including three days with at least 30 degrees, which is the case, David Dehenauw, chief forecaster, told AFP. at MRI.
According to readings from the Brussels-Uccle station, it was 30.3 degrees under cover on Friday afternoon. 25 degrees had already been reached on Monday, with the thermometer climbing to 30 on Tuesday, according to David Dehenauw. “We are even on the fourth day of more than 30 degrees,” he stressed.
Such heat episodes have been more and more frequent for several years during the months of June, July and August. But this is the first time that this has happened in September since 1833, when regular meteorological observations began in Uccle.
Until Monday
In Western Europe, France and the United Kingdom in particular are currently affected by the same heat wave. In Belgium, the heatwave is expected to last until Monday inclusive. Maximum temperatures ranging from 29 to 32 degrees are expected this weekend across the country.
The country bordering the North Sea, where the weather is nevertheless reputed to be gloomy most of the year, is not immune to the increasingly frequent and intense heat waves experienced by Europe. A direct consequence of global warming to which scientists are alerting public opinion.
“The climate collapse has begun,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, in reaction to the announcement of the world record for temperatures during the northern hemisphere summer.