It has now been 693 days since snow last fell at the De Bilt weather station in the Netherlands, the longest snow-free period since records began, weather bureau Weerplaza said on Friday.

With no snow anywhere in the Netherlands at all on Christmas Day, the new record beats that dating from the early 1990s by one day, Weerplaza said.

The last official snowfall recorded at the De Bilt weather station near Hilversum was on February 2, 2019, although there has been a sprinkling in southern parts of Limburg since then.

To be classed as an official snowy day, there must be more than one centimetres of snow in De Bilt at 9am.

The last time there was an official white Christmas in the Netherlands was in 2010, and there have been just eight since 1901.