Belgium is at the start of its hottest week of 2022 with temperatures expected to exceed 35°C on some days, but night-time should remain relatively cool, as very few tropical nights are expected.
While Belgium is approaching a heatwave that may last for one or even two weeks, temperatures at night are expected to remain bearable: most nights will not be tropical, as it will get colder than 20°C.
"It won't be until next weekend that we might have one or two tropical nights," said VRT weather reporter Frank Deboosere. "Especially in the cities where the heat island effect is at play, it is possible. In the countryside, it stays cooler at night."
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Another factor is that this heatwave comes relatively late in the summer, when the days are already becoming shorter and the nights longer.
"Compared to 21 June, we already have one and a half hours less sunlight," said Deboosere, explaining that this means it cools down more at night, reducing the chance of tropical nights.
The difference between day-time and night-time temperatures this week will be very large, according to VRT weather reporter Bram Verbruggen. "We will lose about 15 degrees at night," he said on Twitter.
Het belooft een hittegolf van formaat te worden. Vandaag en morgen meer dan 25°C, vanaf woensdag 30°C PLUS met de piek in het weekend: 30-35°C. Gelukkig is er een grote "dagelijkse gang" en koelt het 's nachts toch een graad of 15 af. pic.twitter.com/u9Tl5Eqfel
— Bram Verbruggen (@meteoBram) August 8, 2022
Belgium already experienced four tropical nights this year – much more than the average of 1.4 per year over the past 30 years, according to Deboosere.
The summer of 1976, which was the hottest summer in Europe, only saw two tropical nights. The record is currently held by the summer of 2019, when six tropical nights were recorded.
