The Netherlands has enjoyed a bout of lovely, summery weather over the past few days, but all that sunshine is coming to an end on Thursday, with the Dutch Weather Institute (KNMI) issuing a code yellow warning for stormy weather across eight of the Netherlands’ 12 provinces. 

Storms hit southern and central regions of the Netherlands 

According to the KNMI, on Thursday, August 24 the provinces of North Holland, Utrecht, South Holland, Zeeland, North Brabant, Limburg, Gelderland and Drenthe should expect “strong thunderstorms”, bringing “wind gusts of 60 to 70 kilometres per hour… hail, and a lot of rain.” The weather office warns that “traffic and outdoor activities” may be affected by the bad weather.

Currently, the code yellow weather warnings that have been issued in these provinces are in place from 12pm (midday) through to 4pm on Thursday, affecting a number of the Netherlands’ major cities including Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, The Hague and Utrecht. 

The end of summer? Cooler weather on the cards for this weekend

In spite of the storms, Thursday will still see generally warm weather throughout much of the day, with Weeronline forecasting average temperatures of around 26 degrees, while those in Limburg could even see the mercury rise to 29 degrees. Areas such as Groningen in the north of the country will see highs of 24 degrees. 

Thursday is likely to be the last day of warm weather, however, with temperatures set to drop from Friday. While it could get as warm as 25 degrees in North Brabant and Limburg on August 25, the weekend is expected to be significantly cooler, with temperatures in the Netherlands unlikely to exceed 21 degrees. 

More rain and wind are also on the cards for this weekend, although currently no further weather warnings have been issued. 

Thumb: pmvfoto via Shutterstock.com.