After a long dry period, some millimeters of rain finally fell yesterday. However, the variation in precipitation is large and often came down at a rapid pace. In many areas, the precipitation was limited and the weather is waiting for that much-needed downpour.
It had been more than a month since the last measurable millimeters fell in almost all of the Netherlands, but yesterday it finally happened again. From the southwest, showers moved across the country towards the north and east from yesterday afternoon. The differences were quite significant. For example, in some areas 30 or even more than 40 millimeters fell, such as in Barendrecht. But as is often the case with these summer thunderstorms, only a few millimeters can fall a few kilometers away (or even closer). In addition, hail was occasionally involved, which meant that some plots were not left unscathed.
Most precipitation fell in the southwest and moved to the north and east of the country. In the north, precipitation was generally limited to about 5 millimeters. In the east of the Netherlands, the thunderstorms were a lot heavier and the rain gauges were overflowing again. In the southeast it sometimes remained just some splashes and dark skies.
The differences in precipitation and the fact that the thunderstorms were very localized is also clearly visible among the potato and onion growers of the Crop Tour. The precipitation sometimes differed by more than 10 millimeters between the Gewastour plots and the location of the arable farm.
Nuisance
Despite heavy rainfall at times, there was virtually no damage to the crops. On several plots there was water between the ridges of crops during heavy showers, but this usually disappeared quickly. However, hail damage was also observed in the south of the country.
Weather forecast
With the prolonged drought, warm days and thunderstorms, 2023 is starting to look more and more like 2018. The precipitation deficit nationally has now increased to 158 millimeters, which is much higher than 2018, when it was 110 millimeters in mid-June. To think that summer only officially started today, June 21st. If we look at the weather forecasts, there is a small decrease in temperatures from the end of June/beginning of July, according to the KNMI. Tropical temperatures or slightly lower than in the past. The chance of precipitation is also increasing, but this does not appear to be large amounts according to the KNMI.