The sun shone for just 19 hours and 59 minutes across the whole of December 2023, according to the end-of-year review by the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI).
This makes it the third darkest December in the current reference period. Only in 2017 (10 hours 29 minutes) and 1993 (16 hours 17 minutes) did the sun shine less.
Such limited sunshine is also reflected in figures for cloud cover: 19 days with complete cloud cover (normally 13.7 days); 27 extremely cloudy days (normally 21.4 days), and not a single clear sky day (normally 2.4 days).
Last month's average temperature was considerably higher than the norm in Uccle: 7.0°C (normally 4.3°C). This makes it the second warmest December in the current reference period, although far behind the record set in 2015 (9.6°C).
Across Belgium, the highest temperature was 13.9°C, recorded on 24 December in Bassevelde (Assenede). The coldest temperature, -9.3°C, was recorded in Saint-Vith on 3 December.
In Uccle, total rainfall over the last month amounted to 102.2 mm over 23 days (normally 19.4 days).
