August gloomiest, but not wettest month 01/09/2006 00:00

1 September 2006

BRUSSELS — The August of 2006 will be remembered as the gloomiest August on record, but it was not the wettest, meteorological bureau RMI said on Friday

There was just 94 hours and 30 minutes of sunshine last month, eclipsing the previous record of 104 hours, which dated back to 1912.

Normally, the Uccle (Ukkel)-based RMI records 188 hours of sunshine in August, news agency Belga reported.

Due to the reduced amount of rainfall in recent days, the August of 2006 will not be recorded as the wettest month.

Some 202.3lr of rain per square metre was recorded compared with the 1996 record when 231.2lr of rain was registered.

But with 22 rainy days, August 2006 had an "abnormal" amount of rainy weather.

RMI said this term implies a phenomenon that occurs once every six years. The normal amount is 16 rainy days.

In general, the summer of 2006 was exceptional in terms of temperature and abnormal in terms of rainy days.

The average temperature in the months of June, July and August was 18.9 degrees Celsius compared with a long-term average of 16.5.

It was the third warmest summer on record.

July was especially warm. It was the hottest month ever with an average temperature of 23 degrees.

The 2006 summer had 37 rainy days, which is abnormally low. The normal amount is 48. August recorded 22 of the 37 rainy days.

There was 276.2lr of rain, a normal amount. But August delivered the most.

The sun shone for 649 hours, a normal amount despite the fact that August was the least sunny month ever.

[Copyright Expatica News 2006]

Subject: Belgian news