• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Belgium - Climate

Belgium has a temperate climate, resembling in general that of south-eastern England, but somewhat colder in winter and hotter in summer. Coastal towns like Ostend have a fairly equable temperature, but as soon as the sea-coast is left behind the changes of temperature become much more marked. Even the polder region has a severe climate. All over Flanders the winters are cold, foggy, and dull, with much frost; the summers are inclined to be sultry. The Ardennes plateau is inclement, with severe winters.

Belgium is a rainy country, but fog and drizzle are more characteristic of the Belgian climate than heavy rainfalls. All over the country the normal wet season is in the late summer and autumn, the late winter and spring being dry. The summer rains are short and sharp, and do little harm; but the heavy and ^continuous autumn rains often so saturate the soil as to stop agricultural work.

The winds from north to south-east are all dry, and the small rainfall in spring is due to the prevalence at that season of north-easterly winds. The worst storms are from the west and north-west; they occur especially in November, and are often accompanied by disastrous inundations from the sea. In general westerly winds decidedly prevail; but all over the country the wind is very changeable. Unbroken spells of any kind of weather are rare, and the climate of Belgium has been described as uniformly changeable, although on the whole it is a good climate for agriculture.

There remains a word to be said about the climate of the Ardennes and Eifel. This is mountainous country, with much rainfall, deep snows in winter, and raw, harsh winds sweeping across the plateaus. The heaviest rains come in November and December. The mists are frequent and heavy, lasting well into late morning before they break. Precise predictions by the military meteorologist, however, are difficult because the Ardennes lies directly on the boundary between the northwestern and central European climatic regions and thus is affected by the conjuncture of weather moving east from the British Isles and the Atlantic with that moving westward out of Russia. Snow lingers for a long time in the Ardennes but - and this is important in recounting the events of 1944 - the deep snows come late.

With the international scientific consensus agreed that climate change is real and lasting, Belgians began taking the issue more seriously. Scientists, political leadership and the public are trying to determine what the impact is likely to be on Belgium. While the Kyoto protocol obligations had engaged Belgian government planners for five years, by 2007 intense media coverage of an abnormally warm Belgian winter and Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" pushed the issue to the forefront of Belgian public attention.

Climatologists are still considering the impact of global warming on Belgium. Given that Belgium has, after the Netherlands, one of the lowest average elevations (300 meters) of any Western European country, a rise of 0.8 meters or more in average sea level (depending on scientific assumptions) in coming decades could devastate Belgium's coastline and economy. Over 63,000 hectares (240 square miles) of land could be lost if sea levels rise as foreseen, according to a 2004 study. The principal ports of Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Oostende and Ghent would need revamping, and property values in these cities and along the entire North Sea coast could plummet. This would also represent a decapitalization of the equity many Belgians hold, with consequences throughout the economy. While Belgium's lynchpin commercial role in Europe's transportation logistics may not be endangered, the costs of maintaining facilities in the face of harsher hurricanes, higher storm surges and greater shore erosion could be significant.

While few Belgian residents would complain about a sunnier climate, global warming will be a double-edged sword. The Royal Meteorological Institute spokesman said that by 2007 climate change was already having an impact on Belgium's Ardennes piedmont region. From 1948-1988, the region averaged 48 snowy winter days per year; from 1989 to 2006 the average was only 36 snowy days. This loss of snow days of 40 percent has contributed to a decline in cross-country skiing and other winter sports, and their associated tourism revenues. The Institute expected the number of snow days to fall further to 50 percent over the next 25 years. Declining snowfall also means declining water run-off in springtime, which may change the character and cultivation of Belgian farmland.

According to a 2004 study of Europe funded by Greenpeace, climate change could mean 2.4 to 6.6 degree warmer summers in Belgium by 2100. Precipitation is expected to rise in the winter, but decline significantly in the summer, possibly over 40 percent. Should a hotter average summer, such as in 2006, become the norm, the agricultural crop mix would have to change; one agronomist says that Belgium might become better for growing wheat than for endive and vegetables. While agriculture accounts for less than 2 percent of GDP, major changes in vegetable crop supplies could push up food costs and inflation. A rise in average temperatures means many species of fresh-water fish and long-lived deciduous trees (oak, beech, poplar) could be threatened if they were unable to adapt to the changed environment.