The summer of 2026 will go down in history as the hottest summer ever recorded in Belgium so far, according to the Royal Meteorological Institute’s (RMI) seasonal climate report.
With an average temperature of 20.3°C, the previous record from 2018 (19.9°C) was comfortably surpassed. The normal summer temperature is 17.9°C.
Other temperature records were also broken during the summer. For example, Uccle recorded the highest average maximum temperature (25.2°C) and the highest average minimum temperature (15.2°C).
The summer of 2026 is also on record as the one with the longest run of consecutive days with maximum temperatures above 20°C. Between 16 June and 18 August, temperatures reached at least 20 degrees for 64 consecutive days.
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The summer was characterised by three heatwaves, of which the one between 17 and 28 June was the longest and most intense. During that heatwave, the highest minimum temperature ever recorded during a heatwave was also recorded at 24.1°C.
There were also heatwaves between 28 July and 5 August and from 8 to 16 August. Only in 1947 were more heatwaves recorded (four), although one of those occurred in the spring.
Remarkably, however, the summer was far from being the driest on record. Between June and August, a total of 200.2 mm of rainfall was recorded – mainly due to the wetter end of August.
This meant Belgium remained a long way from the driest summer on record. In 1921, for instance, only 42.9 mm of rainfall was recorded.
Even during the long dry spell between 1 July and 15 August, no drought record was set. Only 13 mm of rainfall fell during that period. In 2022, the figure was barely 9.2 mm, and in 1911 it was just 8.1 mm.
With a total of 778 hours and 41 minutes of sunshine, the three summer months were also much sunnier than average.
