It’s official, 2022 has been the hottest year on record in Belgium
Environment & Animals
2022 was, along with 2020, the hottest year since the start of observations by the Royal Meteorological Institute in 1833, the IRM reported on Sunday in its annual climate report.
The average temperature in Uccle was indeed 12.2°C (against a normal of 11°C), a value which therefore equals the absolute record set in 2020. According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2022 would be the fifth or sixth hottest year globally, based on observations from the 1860s.
With the exception of the months of April, September and December, the monthly average temperatures were each time above their normal values, with even absolute records obtained in August (the hottest month of August on record, with a temperature maximum of at least 20°C every day, a first) and equaled in October.
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The annual average maximum temperature also set a new all-time high. For the third time since observations began in 1892, the 16°C mark was reached, with 16.3°C (normal: 14.7°C).
The average annual minimum temperature ended in second place, tied with 2020. For the fourth time, the 8°C mark was reached in Uccle: 8.1°C (normal: 7.3°C) , further notes the MRI.
Among the highlights of 2022 in Uccle, we noted that on July 19, the temperature reached 38.1°C, i.e. the second hottest day for all months combined since the start of observations in 1892. This is only July 25, 2019 that it had been warmer in the capital with 39.7°C.
Read also > 2022, second driest and hottest year for 30 years
With a value of 24.7°C, the average maximum summer temperature equaled the 2018 record, while on October 29 there was another summer day (i.e. a maximum temperature equal to or greater than 25°C) – the latest since observations began in 1892 -, the thermometer then indicated 25.5°C.
In the last twelve months, the lowest temperature was recorded in Elsenborn (Butgenbach), on December 15, with -15.5°C. Conversely, the mercury rose on July 19 to 40.0°C in Kapelle-op-den-Bos.
Two months broke the drought records in the capital: March and July. Last summer was also the driest ever recorded in Uccle.
By Belga