2019 will go down in the Dutch record books as the third warmest since records began, according to weather bureau Weeronline.

The average temperature so far has been 11.2 Celsius, more than one degree above the average of 10.1 Celsius, Weeronline said. 2014 remains the hottest year on record with an average temperature of 11.7 Celsius, followed by 2018 with 11.4 Celsius.

This summer, the temperature hit a new record of 40.7 Celsius, topping 40 degrees in five separate provinces in July. A second official heatwave hit the country in August. It is only the fourth time in 100 years that there have been two official heatwaves in a summer.

Warm weather records were broken on 14 different days, and on just one winter day was a new low temperature record set, Weeronline said.

Snow in the winter also brought record traffic jams but there were just two days in which the temperature remained below zero for 24 hours. In a ‘normal’ year there are eight official ‘ice’ days.

This year also brought some more unusual weather conditions, including a tornado in the area around Rheden in Gelderland and a whirlwind which whipped across the Amsterdam waterfront.

Weeronline if forecasting dry, stable conditions for the rest of the year, with sunny spells and little wind.