It has a little snow this Friday at places in Belgium, where the snow usually arrives first. The first snowflakes therefore fell in the Hautes-Fagnes, in Botrange and on Mont-Rigi, in Waimes. According to the IRM, the first part of this month of December will be colder than normal with maximum temperatures in Uccle never exceeding 4 degrees and minimums sometimes dropping below zero, at worst to -2 degrees.

This month of December is essential to know if we will beat, this year, two important meteorological records in Belgium. The first is that of the hottest year. It is held by 2020 which had recorded an average temperature of 12.2º. The normal, for a month of December, is 4.3º. If we reach it this year, the average for 2022 would reach these 12.2º. If at the same temperature as in December 2021 (5.6º), we would reach a record year average of 12.3º. On the other hand, if we stay within the temperatures produced by the MRI, two to four degrees maximum on average, we will be at 12.1º. It would then be the second hottest year ever recorded in Belgium.

The other record that we could reach or even beat is not bad either. This is the lowest number of rainy days ever recorded in Belgium. The record is quite fresh since it dates from 2018. We only had 141 days of rain out of the 365 days of the year in Uccle. That is an average of 6 out of 10 days without rain. The year 2018 broke an old record dating back to… 1921 when there were only 153 days of rain.

And this year, you ask? As of December 1, only 130 rainy days had been recorded out of the first 335 days of the year. That is eleven days less than the record. When you look at the MRI for the first half of December, it’s pretty calm precipitation-wise. If 2022 doesn’t break 2018’s record, it will likely be second, well ahead of 1921.

We also calculated the sunshine recorded from January 1 to December 1. Here, too, a high score is achieved. So far about 1,936 hours and 4 minutes of sunshine. That’s a lot if we know that the normal for a year is 1,603 hours and 40 minutes. The record dates from 1959 with 2,151 hours.

As for precipitation, there has not been much this year, in terms of quantity. As of December 1, the Royal Meteorological Observatory had registered just 590.9 mm of rain. That is much less than the normal which is 837.1mm. Here, the record is not about to be beaten. It dates back to the year 1921 which had been exceptional from many meteorological points of view with only 406.4 mm.