Code yellow has been issued for the whole country for Thursday as Storm Ciarán is closing in on Belgium, bringing strong southerly and later southwesterly winds.
The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) has issued a yellow alert on Tuesday due to the intense winds expected across Belgium on Thursday. The warning is linked to the Storm Ciarán, which is expected to bring gusts reaching between 80 and 100 km/h.
"Caution is advised and continue to monitor further warning updates," the RMI noted on its website and social media channels.
Tweet translation: "Wind warning from 02/11 04h to 02/11 23h: Storm Ciarán will bring strong southerly and later southwesterly winds on Thursday. Winds of 6-7 Beaufort inland and 9-10 Beaufort at sea are expected."
During the warning phase, which will run from 04:00 on Thursday evening until 23:00, the strength of the gusts is expected to reach 6 to 7 Beaufort inland and 9 to 10 Beaufort along the coast. It is possible that there will be considerable gusts of wind on Friday and during the weekend as well.
In the United Kingdom, some regions are in the midst of recovering from the passage of Storm Babet, which killed at least five people and caused extensive damage. The weather service expects heavy rain, flooding and wind speeds of up to 150 km/h before the eye of Storm Ciarán moves to Belgium.
The storm comes after a gloomy and grey two weeks in the country. However, weather reporter Frank Deboosere told De Standaard that, overall, October was a very normal month in terms of sunshine hours and precipitation levels. He noted that October will be in the top ten warmest October months ever.
