The heat was big news a year ago. The NS adapted train services, the beaches were packed and on the Maasvlakte (but also in other places) the rescue services drove off and on for people who were caught in the heat. “All of Holland bakes,” was trending on Twitter.
In spite of the already high temperatures, the same July 25 arose a strong discussion about an unmanned weather station in the Gelderse Deelen. The thermometer there rose by four degrees to 42.9 degrees within half an hour. “It’s too bizarre for words,” said the headline Omroep Gelderland then.
And it was, says KNMI meteorologist Leon Saris not: “We immediately had doubts about that, it is impossible.” He points out that in Deelen there are two weather stations that normally run almost the same. That was not exactly the case a year ago. Saris: “The other station was around 39 degrees.”
However, KNMI is still investigating a year later what exactly happened to that thermometer in Deelen. The result is not expected until this winter. It is all difficult enough, says weatherman Hiemstra. “It is an unmanned station, so you never know exactly what happened. In itself it is not surprising that measurements are corrected afterwards. It is quite difficult to measure. Sometimes errors occur.”
–
