Morning frost coupled with freezing easterly winds and snow in the south show the Netherlands is still in the grip of winter on Sunday, with more cold weather records set to be broken.

The wind chill factor will make it feel as cold as -16 Celsius in places, despite the sunny spells in northern parts, weather forecasters say.

Sunday may end up the coldest March 24 on record. The current record of 2.9 Celsius at the De Bilt weather station dates from 1916. Saturday was the chilliest March 23 since that year.|

Snow in south

Drifting snow is expected in southern parts of Zeeland, Limburg and West Brabant and has already swept across Britain and Belgium. The wind is stormy in coastal areas, particularly around the Ijsselmeer lake north of Amsterdam and the Wadden Sea, the Telegraaf said.

A number of outdoor sports matches have been cancelled because of the freezing conditions, as they were on Saturday.

The strong easterly breezes are expected to die down on Monday and Tuesday but it will continue to freeze at night to as low as -8 Celsius in sheltered places.

Easter

The prospects for the Easter weekend are not promising. The night frosts look set to continue and forecasters say at the moment it is unlikely to be warmer than 7 Celsius, well below averages for the end of March.

The coldest Easter on record was in 1964 when it reached 3.9 Celsius. The warmest was two years ago, when it was a chocolate-melting 26 Celsius.