Friday 21 July marks Belgium's National Holiday, meaning most people have a day off and a wide range of activities will be hosted across the nation. Sadly, the weather will be of typical Belgian nature.
At the start of the day, it will be cloudy across most of Belgium. From the morning, a rainshower zone will move from the coast to the central part of the country, where it will arrive by noon. The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) has warned this could lead to some thunderstorms and locally, strong gusts of winds are possible.
This could put a damper on the celebrations in the city centre of Brussels, most of which will take place outdoors. Some heavy rain is expected here between noon and 15:00. The showers will then move to the south, into the Ardennes, by the afternoon.
From this point, it will become drier with clearings, moving in from the coast in the afternoon. "We will reach maximum temperatures of 17°C in the High Ardennes, 19°C at the sea and up to 21 or 22°C elsewhere. Winds will initially be weak from the west-southwest, later clearing to the west/northwest from the coast and becoming moderate."
Friday night and evening it will be dry and clear, just in time for the free "Happy Belgium" concert at the Cinquantenaire Park, starting at 21:00 and the laser, light and fireworks show which will start at 23:00.
Saturday will be somewhat warmer with occasional streaks of sunshine in the morning. Over the course of the day, clouds increase with a chance of some showers in the northwest. Maximum temperatures will be between 18°C in the High Ardennes, 21°C by the sea and 22 or 23°C in most other places. Winds will be moderate from the southwest, sometimes quite strong at the sea with gusts up to 50 km/h.
