The meteorological spring of 2020 will go down as the sunniest on record by far, with 790 hours of sunshine, compared with 517 in an average year. The new record also beats the previous one, set in 2011 by 47 hours, the KNMI weather bureau has confirmed.

April was the sunniest April of all time and both March and May are in the top five. De Kooij, near Den Helder in Noord Holland had the most sunshine – 830 hours in total, while Twente had the least – 741 hours.

Spring was also extremely dry, with just 77 millimetres of rain falling, compared with 172 in an average year. Most rain fell in March, and April and May are both among the driest on record.

The lack of rain is also beginning to cause problems for water boards, and the situation has been made worse by the increase in demand because so many people are at home.

This weekend drinking water company Vitens, which supplies 2.5 million homes in Overijssel, Gelderland, Friesland, Utrecht and Flevoland, lowered the pressure in its pipes to make sure it could guarantee supplies.

Vitens is ‘urgently’ calling on customers not to water their gardens and to reduce the length of time they shower for, as well as to avoid using blow-up swimming pools.