Dutch Weather Alerts
Expats in Holland need to be aware of weather alerts issued by KNMI (Royal Dutch Weather Bureau), what they mean and how they are communicated to residents in Netherlands.
- Go directly to Dutch weather alert color code explanations
- Go directly to current Netherlands weather
The KNMI (‘Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute’) is the official Dutch weather bureau. It is a government agency within the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
One of the organizations’s main responsibilities is to monitor conditions and communicate a weather alert to residents whenever a potential dangerous condition is forecast. This could be in the form of rain (regen), hail (hagel), snow (sneeuw), ice (ijs), thunderstorms (onweersbuien), strong winds (windstoten), extreme temperatures: heat (hitte) / cold (koud) or poor visibility (zicht).
DUTCH WEATHER ALERTS COLORS
The KNMI issues weather alerts by province and sometimes regionally (such as for the ‘Ijsselmeer’ lake or the ‘Wadden Islands’, but only if the impacted area is larger than 50 square kilometers). Alerts are categorized by color.
GREEN (groen) is used to indicate normal seasonal weather (no warning).
YELLOW (geel) is used for a level 1 warning. Residents need to ‘be alert‘ for a potentially hazardous weather condition. A yellow warning is issued within 48 hours of the expected weather event if there is a 60% chance (or greater) of it occurring.
ORANGE (oranje) is the second strongest alert that can be issued. Residents need to ‘be prepared‘ for a weather condition that could cause damage, injury and/or nuisance. Such an alert can often be localized. An orange weather alert is issued 24 hours in advance of the expected weather event if there is a 60% probability (or higher) of it occurring.
RED (rood) is the most serious weather warning in the Netherlands. Residents need to ‘take action‘ due to an expected severe weather condition that can create havoc, cause injury and substantially damage property and infrastructure. A red weather alert is issued within 12 hours of the expected weather condition.
DUTCH WEATHER WARNING COLOR KEY
| CONDITION / WARNING | YELLOW | ORANGE |
| RAIN | Traffic nuisance: 30+ mm/hr or 50+ mm/24hrs | 75+ mm/24hrs |
| THUNDERSTORM | 1 lightning strike/5 mins (with or without hail) | 500 lightning strikes/5 mins (with or without hail) |
| WIND | Gusts of 75+ kph (90+ kph on coast in winter) | Gusts of 100+ kph (120+ kph on coast in winter) |
| TEMPERATURE | Min. 1 of the following: – <15°C – >35°C – 4 consecutive days >27°C | Min. 1 of the following: – windchill <-20°C – min temperature >18°C – 3 consecutive days >30°C |
| VISIBILITY | Less than 200m | Less than 10m |
The KNMI communicates code orange weather warnings and code red weather alarms via Twitter (@knmi) and NOS teletext (P. 713).
WEATHER IN THE NETHERLANDS
NETHERLANDS WEATHER IN PAST HOUR
CURRENT NETHERLANDS WEATHER
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