This past weekend was one of the warmste days in October since record keeping began. Temperatures reached a high of 23 degrees Celsius (around 73 degrees Fahrenheit). After a couple of days of rain and cooler temperatures, the warm sunny weekend was very much welcome. The zonnige weekend was the beginning of fall break, and many took advantage of the weather to go to the beach in Scheveningen or Zandvoort. Saturday was a great day for walking around markets and drinking a cold beer on a terrace. Sunday was also a very warm day, although in the evenings, clouds were filling the sky for what has been a very cloudy and rainy week.

On Tuesday, the tropical depression Gonzalo, the first herfst storm of the season, traveled the Atlantic and hit the UK and later the Netherlands, Belgium and France causing strong winds, rain, and flooding. Winds exceeded 65 kph (40 mph) and the dijken in the Netherlands were closed to minimize flooding damages. Wednesday’s news was filled with images of flooded parking lots and streets near the coast. Although the material damage totals about 2 million euros, there were no lives lost in the Netherlands. The storm was expected to reach northern Italy, Slovakia and Serbia today.

If you want more info, visit the previous posts about the Dikes in Zeeland and the Bassie and Adriaan post about the weather.