If you are already tired of all that rain, it is better to stay indoors for the next few days. “Today it is not too bad, only in the southeast can there be a shower,” says the meteorologist.
Unstable spring weather
“Furthermore, it is rather gray today, there are a lot of clouds and the temperature at 12 degrees is a few degrees higher than the average around this time. Occasionally the sun may also show itself.”
“On Monday it will remain cloudy and there will be some light rain. The southeast will probably keep it dry then. The temperature will rise to around 11 degrees,” says Aarts. “Really stable spring weather is not there yet for the time being. And we cannot rule out the possibility that there may even be a winter shower in this month.”
Light wind
From Tuesday it will all be a bit more volatile. “There will always be disturbances from the ocean. It will always vary: then rain again, then some clearance. But it will blow a lot during the day anyway.”
Aarts: “This is especially the case on Wednesday and Thursday. Along the coast the wind can reach force six or seven. Some softer air will enter the country, but with that wind and the rain it won’t feel very good. Really calm weather won’t be in it for the next few days.”
We are used to the precipitation this month, but how different it was a year ago. “Last year, the month of March was very sunny and dry. The difference is very big. So far we have had exactly half fewer hours of sunshine. But that says more about how extremely sunny it was last year than about now.”
“But the amount of precipitation this month is less than normal,” says Aarts. We have already had almost the amount of precipitation we normally have in the whole month of March.”
Groundwater levels
And all that rain in turn affects the groundwater levels. There were shortages there for a long time, partly due to last year’s dry summer. “We have now caught up quite a bit,” says the meteorologist. “We are in good shape in most of the country. Only in the north of Limburg, in the Veluwe and in Drenthe are there still some shortages.”
This in turn has to do with the location of those areas, explains Aarts. “Those places are generally a bit higher. The water then runs down sooner. But in general we can say that we are entering the growing season with a buffer in terms of groundwater.”
