Kingโs Days are colder than Queenโs Days despite being just three days apart, NOS weather woman Roosmarijn Knol has found ahead of Saturdayโs celebrations.
Many people feel that April 30th, when the Dutch monarchโs birthday used to be celebrated, was always sunny while April 27, the current kingโs birthday, is invariably cold and miserable, Knol said.
โI have come to the surprising conclusion there is some truth in that feeling,โ Knol said. โif you look at the statistics, there is a difference of one degree Celsius between the two dates. On April 27 itโs 15 degrees on average and on the 30th itโs 16. And it also rained more on the 26th.โ
Knol said the difference is difficult to explain. โPerhaps itโs simply that the 27th is a little bit closer to winter. Thereโs climate change as well. But there is no single cause,โ she said.
The warmest Queenโs Day was in 1993 when it reached 27ยฐ degrees. That is seven degrees up on the warmest Kingโs Day record, set in 2020.
Willem-Alexander changed the date of the celebration, when Dutch towns and cities turn into a giant street market, when he became king in 2013. His mother, princess Beatrix, who was born on January 31, decided to hold on to her mother Julianaโs birthday because the weather would be more clement.
This yearโs Kingโs Day weather is not going to be very springlike either, Knol said, with temperatures around the 16ยฐ mark. There will be occasional showers as well, she said.
Revelers out on the tiles the night before and early birds looking for bargains should wrap up warm, the Dutch Red Cross has warned, because temperatures will fall to around 5ยฐ overnight.
Markus Jansen 
Fanny Mulder