The coldest Christmas Day since 1994 witnessed the first icy day of winter and a night frost.
Christmas 2025 witnessed the coldest temperatures in the Netherlands since 1994, marking the first official ice day of this winter. In De Bilt, the site used as a national standard for official weather measurements by KNMI, temperatures did not rise above zero throughout the day. Weeronline reported that the highest recorded temperature was minus 0.2 degrees Celsius, while the temperature dropped overnight to minus 5.5 degrees, marking the first official moderate frost of the season.
Earlier this winter, moderate frost was recorded in other parts of the country. On November 21, the temperature in Eelde dropped to minus 5.4 degrees Celsius, while in Twente it reached minus 5.1 degrees. In comparison, during the previous winter (2024–2025), De Bilt did not record its first moderate frost until February 2, which is later than usual, while moderate frost often appears around December 23.
De Bilt recorded its last ice day before Christmas on January 19 of this year, while other locations saw their last ice day on February 13, when the temperature in Hoogeveen did not exceed minus 0.5 degrees. Ice days in the Netherlands typically occur between December and February, with their frequency varying from about three days annually in western Zeeland to nine days in the eastern and northeastern regions. In De Bilt, the average number of ice days from 1995 to 2024 is six days.
Despite the biting cold, Christmas this year was remarkably sunny, with 6.7 hours of sunshine recorded in De Bilt. This figure is close to the record for the sunniest Christmas Day in 1976, which recorded 7.2 hours of sunshine. The coldest Christmas in history was in 1961, when the highest temperature was only minus 3.9 degrees Celsius.
Freezing temperatures have allowed for the return of skating across the country. Volunteers helped open skating rinks in several locations, including De Lier in Zuid-Holland and Zeist in Utrecht, enabling residents to skate outdoors. The rare ice day in De Bilt marked the end of a 762-day period without an official ice day, highlighting the unusual severity of the frost this Christmas.