It's official – well, as official as it can be – Belgium will not be having a white Christmas this year.
As already predicted by the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) last week, temperatures this week will not be cold enough for snow this coming Saturday.
Friday will be overcast with intermittent light rain. Highs will range between 4 degrees in the upper Ardennes to 10 degrees in the country's extreme west. The same type of weather is expected on Saturday, precluding the chance of snow.
The last time Belgium had a white Christmas was in 2010, and that will not change this year, according to David Dehenauw of the RMI.
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“The weather models predict no snow for the coming weeks. The mild weather has won,” he told De Standaard. “The weather models first gave the impression that there was a chance of snow but now it appears that the average temperatures will be around 9 to 10 degrees. That says it all, I’m afraid.”
Belgium has only had 11 white Christmases since records began in 1906. In the past 100 years, this has only occurred seven times. Of course, there have been times with snow close to Christmas Day, but it fell too early, too late or too thinly.
According to the RMI, it only counts as a white Christmas if there is at least 1 centimetre of snow in Uccle by 8:00 AM on 25 December. Snow that remained on the ground the day before counts, but flakes that fall later in the day are ignored.
