Frank Deboosere warns of hot, dry summer: « Now that spraying your lawn is the stupidest thing you can do »

It stays dry for a whole week, says the RMI. « With a small exception for the ‘happy bags’ in the south of the country, » adds Frank Deboosere. « From France there are showers and stuffing. Possibly stabbing the border this afternoon or tonight. In the provinces of West Flanders and Hainaut there could be a lot of precipitation, but very locally. In the rest of the country it is and remains completely dry. »

For the first signal of rain, Deboosere has to look at next week’s weather maps. « But the computer models always keep the rain signal for a day. It could well be that we have to wait for the long part of the country for significant significance until the end of the month. There is no question of the end of the drought yet. »

Read too. Drought will last for a while, but with the competent minister it remains silent: « He mainly attracts agricultural files to the Council of Ministers »

Rain would nevertheless be good news, says Deboosere. Even in March and April there was unusually little rainfall and the soil is completely dry. « A dry period like this has a frequency of once every fifty years, » Deboosere emphasizes. « An additional problem is that we may be heading for a hot summer with heat waves. Then we will certainly need a lot of water, even if it was to extinguish the forest and heathland. We have every interest in keeping the water we have now. »

Being sparing is the message. « Please don’t spray your lawn now, » the weatherman says fiercely. « That is the stupidest thing you can do. Even if you get it out of the ground, it is not a good idea, please let it sit there. Now don’t go drilling well. The grass can certainly stand it. Let it just make it a little straw. This is how you save money, because water costs a lot, and you are kind to nature at the same time. »

« An additional problem is that we may be heading for a hot summer with heat waves. Then we will definitely need a lot of water, even if it was to extinguish the forest and heather bonds”

Frank Deboosere

Weatherman

Last year was too wet, this year too dry. Is it never good? “Our climate is changing. There is more chance of long dry periods and periods with a lot of rain. And those periods are getting longer and longer. States as we are now experiencing are more often prevented and we will have to prepare well for that. The last thing we want is that no more water comes out of the tap or that we no longer have any water to cool our nuclear power stations. »

Read too. West Flanders fights against drought and … salt: « The water is no longer suitable for agriculture »