Heat plan back in force as temperatures near 32°

The national heat plan will be back in force from Saturday, for the second time this summer, as temperatures are set to soar back above 30°.

The public health institute RIVM activated the plan after consulting the KNMI weather service, which has issued a code yellow warning from Saturday morning. It covers seven provinces in the centre, south and east: Zeeland, Zuid-Holland, Noord-Brabant, Limburg, Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel.

Temperatures are forecast to reach around 29° over the weekend and climb towards 32° early next week, with local highs above 30° in the south and east. The KNMI also expects very strong sun in the coming days, issuing warnings about sunburn.

The plan kicks in when sustained heat above 27° is expected, and is meant to alert informal carers and care professionals to look out for those most at risk – chiefly older people, young children and the chronically ill.

RIVM advises checking on vulnerable people, drinking enough, keeping homes and bodies cool, and watching for warning signs such as headaches, dizziness, tiredness and severe thirst.

It returns barely three weeks after the June heatwave, during which RIVM estimated that around 480 more people died than usual, most of them aged 80 and over. That spell, from June 18 to 29, brought the KNMI’s first-ever code red warning for heat.

The Dutch heat is part of a wider pattern. Western Europe has just had its warmest June on record, according to the EU’s Copernicus climate service, and warnings remain in place across the continent, with nine departments in western France on the highest red alert and parts of southern Spain battling deadly wildfires.