The Netherlands Has Just Broken a 1947 Record for Largest Number of Tropical Heat Days
The milestone comes in a summer that is also the second-driest since records began in 1901. Forecasters say tropical days and repeated heatwaves are becoming more common as the climate warms.
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The Netherlands has just experienced more tropical days in a single year than at any point since records began, breaking a mark that had stood since 1947. It caps a summer that has been not only exceptionally hot but also exceptionally dry.
A new record
As of Tuesday 11th August, 31 regional tropical days had been recorded in the Netherlands in 2026. A tropical day is one on which the temperature reaches at least 30 degrees Celsius, and a “regional” tropical day means that threshold was passed somewhere in the country, as measured across the national network of weather stations. That total of 31 surpasses the previous record of 30, set in 1947.
The record fell on Tuesday, when the mercury in Maastricht climbed to 31.5 degrees, making it the 31st day of the year on which it was tropically warm somewhere in the Netherlands. There is a telling detail in the comparison with 1947: in that year, the 30th tropical day did not arrive until September, whereas 2026 reached the same point, and went past it, in the middle of August.
The record is still climbing
Forecasters expect the tally to rise further before the summer is out. More hot weather is on the way this week, with temperatures again forecast to climb above 30 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday, and there is a chance of a regional heatwave, which would be the fifth of the year, an unusually high number for a single Dutch summer.
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A hot summer is also a dry one
The heat has gone hand in hand with a deepening drought, and the two records sit side by side. Since Tuesday morning, this summer has become the second-driest since measurements began in 1901. The national rainfall deficit, the gap between rain that falls and water that evaporates, stands at a historically high 297 millimetres and is still rising. Only the summer of 1976 was drier.
Rijkswaterstaat, the national water authority, has warned that the prolonged drought is taking on “historic” proportions and called the situation “very unusual”. The combination of high temperatures and a lack of rain has put the country under strain for weeks: water boards are urging people to be sparing with water, and in many areas farmers and growers are barred from drawing water to irrigate their land. The National Heat Plan, meanwhile, is in force for the fourth time this year, the first having come in mid-June.
A warming pattern
Behind the individual records lies a longer trend. According to the national weather service KNMI, tropical days and repeated heatwaves are becoming more frequent as the climate warms. A century ago, the Netherlands averaged only a little more than one tropical day a year; in the present-day climate, the figure is around five, and this summer has left even that far behind.
For now, the country faces a few more warm days before any prospect of relief. The rain that would ease the drought is not expected imminently, and even when it does come, the authorities have said the effects of this dry summer will be felt for months. The reassurance that matters most to households still holds, however: drinking water supplies remain in order.