Buienradar has warned that a thick fog settling over the Netherlands means a view of dazzling fireworks to welcome the new decade could be completely blocked by the rare weather event.
“I deliberately did not buy flares, because you may only see some glowing,” Martijn Dorrestein of Buienradar told RTL Nieuws. “The visibility can be less than 10 to 50 meters.”
Road users have also been warned by the travellers association ANWB to avoid driving tonight unless absolutely necessary. Visibility could drop to around 10 metres in some parts of the country, and drivers are warned their fog lights won’t do any good.
“Look at where you are and whether the situation there is so bad. You may actually be on the road and no longer see where you are. We really want to warn about that,” a spokesperson for the ANWB told RTL Nieuws. “Stay inside in those situations and take it into account that you have to stay in that place.”
The north-east and the north, in particular, must take into account low visibility. But even in the south, according to the KNMI, fog is certainly not excluded.
The fog is expected to worsen in the afternoon and evening:
Martijn Dorrestein of Buienradar says that road users can easily become disoriented in the rare fog. “There is already very thick fog, but the smoke and soot particles from the fireworks make the fog thicker. In some parts of the country you may not even be able to see the other side of the street.”
The ANWB has warned that conditions are similar to New Year’s Eve’s of 1993 and 2008 when visibility was so poor, drivers got disoriented. Eight people died on the 1993 evening due to foggy and slippery conditions, and around one hundred were injured.
Stay home if you can folks, or plan a sleepover – this fog is going to be intense! What are your plans for New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands?
Feature Image: Markus Spiske/Pexels