Dutch KNMI: ‘2022 was driest and sunniest year ever’

Global warming is causing more and more extreme weather conditions. According to the Dutch weather and climate institute KNMI (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut), 2022 was the driest and sunniest year ever registered since the beginning of the measuring.

According to KNMI’s latest report, ‘The State of our Climate’, the summer of 2022 got 17% more sunshine than usual, and an average of 40% less rain fell. In addition, summer and autumn were particularly warm.

Record temperature

With an average temperature of 11,6°C, 2022 was the Netherlands’ third warmest year since the measurements began in 1901. Usually, the average temperature is 10,5°C. The lowest temperature, -10,6°C, was measured on December 13th, and the highest, 39,5°C, on July 19th.

The winter months were mild and marked by four storms. On December 31st, the temperature reached 17°C in the country’s southeast, the highest temperature since the observations began. Spring was mild, sunny, and very dry, and the summer was warm, bright, and like spring, extremely dry.

Due to the sunny spring, the summer started with a significant precipitation deficit, which quickly increased due to the limited rain and abundant sun. Statistics show that the maximum precipitation deficit has risen in recent decades and is expected to increase further in the coming years.

Global warming

In the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, the world agreed that the average global temperature should preferably not exceed 1,5°C and certainly not 2°C. However, at current trends, global warming will reach 1,5°C by 2033, and the northern hemisphere will warm by 2°C by 2037, warns the institute.

In the northern hemisphere, the warming of 1,5°C has been a fact since 2020. In the Netherlands, this limit was already reached around the year 2000. The Netherlands has warmed by 2,3°C since the beginning of the last century. It is one of the consequences of the rising sea level.