The first month of this year was wet. Especially the first ten days were wet with almost daily rain. It was also gloomy, with 62 hours of sunshine compared to an average of 68 hours. With an average temperature of 3.5°C against a long-term average of 3.6°C, the temperature deviated little from normal.
Orange Codes for Slipperiness
The year started with a lot of wind and rain. In the west and south of Limburg, locally 20-25 millimeters fell. With 13.2 °C, the highest temperature of the month was recorded on January 6 in Arcen. After that, it became quite cold with showers, sometimes with snow. This snow caused an orange code in North Brabant and Limburg on January 9. In the Limburg hills, the snow remained until about January 14.
Long-lasting Fog
On January 11, an orange code was issued for slipperiness due to freezing rain in Friesland and Groningen. After that, the weather calmed down. The lowest temperature of the month, -6.5 °C, was measured on January 14 in Beek. From January 14, it became cloudy with occasional drizzle, and until January 21, there was often long-lasting (dense) fog.
Lots of Rain
With an average of 82 millimeters of precipitation across the country (based on automatic weather stations) compared to an average of 68 millimeters, January was a wet month. Especially the first ten days were wet with almost daily rain. After January 10, little precipitation fell, but from January 22, there were virtually no dry days left. The wettest was in the southeast, with locally 160 millimeters in the south of Limburg. Beek was the wettest automatic weather station with 134 millimeters.
(Lack of) Sun
The first week was gloomy, but the second week saw the sun often. The periods from January 15 to 22 were sunless in many places. The last nine days saw the sun from time to time. The sun shone the least in the east and south, with the KNMI weather station Twenthe recording 45 hours of sunshine. The sunniest was on the west coast, with De Kooy recording 72 hours of sunshine.
Normal = the long-term average over the period 1991-2020.