Temperatures will hardly or will not rise above freezing this week. For cars that sleep outside, this often means scraping ice off the windows in the morning. But why is it that this is sometimes necessary and not on other days, even though it feels cold for a while?
“It all has to do with the humidity in the air. Western air currents from the Ocean or the North Sea contain a lot of moisture. That moisture freezes at these temperatures and creates a white layer of ice on cars. If the wind comes from Russia or Scandinavia, it is usually dry air, with little moisture. In that case, it may feel cold for a while, but the car windows are not frozen in the morning. Because it is precisely the moisture in the air that creates the ice layer,” says climatologist Luc Debontridder of the Belgium-based Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI).
Can we somehow feel at night whether it is necessary to place a piece of cardboard in front of the windows to prevent us from having to scratch in the morning? “Then you should be able to measure the humidity. I would say if it is freezing, err on the side of caution and always place a piece of cardboard. But there is a law of physics that says that the colder it is, the less moisture there is in the air. And therefore the less chance that your car windows will freeze.”
Warmer next week
Tuesday was an ice day. The temperature did not rise above freezing. Today it is often sunny with sometimes cloudy fields in the north. The maximums fluctuate between 2 and -5 degrees. It will continue to freeze at night in the coming days. During the day, temperatures flirt with freezing. Next week it will be warmer with temperatures of up to 6 degrees during the day on Tuesday. The chance of precipitation will increase in the second half of next week, says the Belgian RMI.