Ministry echoes heat warning as fifth heatwave passes
The environment ministry echoed the KNMI's code yellow warning as the Confederation's Dutch claims sat at the cooler northern end of the Netherlands' fifth heatwave of the year.
CvL
By the Courant van Lazia editorial staffPublished 17 August 2026 · 09:00
Lazia, 17 August 2026 — The Ministry of Environment and Public Health has echoed the code yellow heat warning issued by the KNMI, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, advising households in the Confederation's Dutch territories to avoid exertion during the afternoon. The Confederation issued no emergency measures of its own, and asked citizens to follow the authorities where they live.
The warning accompanied the fifth Dutch heatwave of 2026, a total the institute's records show to have been reached in a single calendar year only once before, in 1947. The national Heat Plan, triggered when the KNMI forecasts at least 27°C for four consecutive days, was in effect while the warning stood.
On 14 August, the hottest August day of the year, the KNMI recorded maximums of 30 to 38°C from north to south: roughly 33°C in the north, 37°C in the south and south-east. Both Dutch claims lie at the cooler end of that range — Groot-Geestmerambacht, within Alkmaar, which covers Ihuset, Lazia and Noorderhout, and Cherrystan, within Hoorn. Cooling began on 15 August, with more typical values expected the following week.
The Confederation's English territories stood in a country that set a fresh mark. The United Kingdom recorded its hottest day of the year at 38.1°C in west London, passing the previous high of 38°C set in June. Mamucium, in Manchester, and Matsia-Northumberland, at Bedlington, lie well north of west London.
The Federal Rijkswaterstaat asked residents of the Dutch territories to be sparing with water for the duration, observing that Mahusetan water management rests on the Dutch system within which those territories sit. It said it would follow the guidance of the Dutch authorities rather than issue instructions of its own.
Heat has killed more than 25,000 people across Europe this year, on data compiled by Bloomberg, and parts of the continent endured their fifth heatwave of the summer. The ministry said its advisory would lapse with the cooler weather.
