Sleet and snow hit several parts of Limburg province on Wednesday in an early start to winter.

The maximum temperature is lower than average for the time of year, but the ground is still too warm to allow the snow to lie, broadcaster Nos says.

In an average October, the maximum temperature is around 15 degrees but on Wednesday afternoon it was no higher than 4 degrees in Limburg and 9 degrees on the coast.

The earliest snow ever to fall in the winter was in 1975, when several centimetres fell on October 13.