News Weather
Snow disrupts the land, but not the farmers
Many parts of the Netherlands were buried under a snow cover on Sunday that, combined with strong winds, sometimes caused considerable snow dunes. So far, there have been no major problems for the agricultural sector. The milk could be collected and farmers and contractors are especially busy shoveling snow.
Snow did not fall everywhere in the Netherlands. For example, a part of North Groningen remained snow-free and there was little or no snow in Limburg and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. The thickness of the snow cover is also different. What mainly causes problems are snow dunes, thrown up by the strong wind.
Code orange
The KNMI scales code red for Monday 8 January to code orange, which applies until 12 noon. Especially in the southern Netherlands it can be deceptively slippery. Because a strong wind continues to blow, the perceived temperature is between -10 and -15 degrees.
Mercury plunges down
In the east of the Netherlands, the mercury dropped to -7 degrees last night. We can get used to these temperatures in the coming days. The latest KNMI run shows a line that lies below the 0 point both during the night and during the day, with peaks of up to -15 degrees or more. During the day the temperature is around -5 degrees.
Due to the snowfall, cultivating plots is soon no longer an issue. A single arable farmer was still busy cultivating, plowing or applying some green manure on a plot. The delivery of potatoes, for example, also continues. There was great indignation on Twitter when a video showed how a farmer in North Holland was arrested by the police because he was working his land at night – after the curfew – over the frost.
Just picked up milk
Dairy farmers are mainly concerned with keeping things frost-free and protecting their animals against the worst cold. There are hardly any problems with collecting the milk.
Snow shoveling a party
For many tractor drivers, a little snow shoveling is a party. Since Saturday, part of the agricultural sector in the Netherlands has been eager to use the snow blade and salt spreader on the tractor. Locally, large snow dunes had to be cleared to make the roads passable for traffic, or stuck cars had to be pulled free.
After Monday, the wind will ease somewhat, except in the coastal areas, and it will clear up. New snow showers still fall sporadically in the north. The current longer-term forecast is that it will remain frosty during the day and at night until the middle of next week. After that time, the KNMI estimates that there is a 50% chance that we will have cold and dry winter weather. There is a chance that we will get a more moderate weather type with higher temperatures.
Niels van der Boom
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