With a few exceptions, we are experiencing a long episode without rain. David Dehenauw, meteorologist at the Royal Meteorological Institute (IRM), was interviewed in RTL INFO 13H. “The winter was wet, so we were good there. The problem is in March, because we only had 2 mm of rain. Normally, we are entitled to almost 60 liters per m² (Editor’s note: 1 mm per m² is equivalent to 1 liter per m²). In April, the first week of the Easter holidays, it was really rainy, but from that week onwards we had a dry spell which lasts until now, except for some localized showers“. Result: in the two months of March and April, only 39 mm of rain per m² was recorded instead of the usual 106 mm.
According to the weather presenter, the situation might become worrying for those who need precipitation in their activities. “It won’t get better the next two weeks“, confides the specialist. “Little or no precipitation. I’m not going to say anything at all, but what will fall will not solve the problem, that’s clear“.
Another meteorological factor to take into account: the drying wind. “In April, we had a north-easterly wind. It’s a wind that gives dry weather, which also dries out the soil. It’s dry air from Eastern Europe“, indicates David Dehenauw. “The next few days, between Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, we will have a west-southwest wind, which will blow with 4 or 5 Beauforts on the coast. So it reinforces even more, with the temperatures, the drought“.
The impact of global warming
How to explain this phenomenon of lack of rain? “We have one anticyclone following another. So there is always a blockage in the atmosphere. Last summer, we also had blockages. But these were depressions following depressions over Belgium. Now it’s highs following highs“, says David Dehenauw.
For the meteorologist, the situation is linked to global warming. “The jet stream loses activity. So we more often have the same weather for days or weeks. So last year it was terrible flooding and lots of rain, a really rotten summer. For now, it’s the other way around.“, he clarifies. “We have seen for forty years that spring is becoming drier and drier. So what we’re going through now is not abnormal in the global warming scenario.“.
As a reminder, the jet stream, jet stream in English, is a fast current of air found in the atmosphere. It is the result of the Earth’s rotation and the uneven heating of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Two sunny weeks ahead
On the other hand, it also means that we will have good weather. “Tomorrow, already 25°C in the interior, the same for Tuesday with a few clouds perhaps. […] And then a drop in temperatures towards 20°C in the second part of the week. And then a rise from next Sunday towards 25°C. So for the week following, that of May 16, we will once more have temperatures of 25°C in the interior, with summer weather“, specifies the meteorologist.
David Dehenauw warns, however, that we are not completely immune to sudden precipitation. “If there is a heat storm. Well, I can’t predict now. It is possible, but it is also very localized. So that won’t solve the (drought) problem either.“.