The temperature topped 30 Celsius in the De Bilt weather station near Utrecht on Tuesday, meaning the Netherlands is in the grip of its second official heatwave of the year.

A heatwave is defined as a five-day period of temperatures over 25 Celsius, of which three are over 30 Celsius. The first official heatwave of the year was between July 22 and July 27, when several weather records were broken.

Weather forecasters expect the heatwave to last until tomorrow, when it could reach as high as 32 Celsius in the south and east. Clouds are expected to move in in the afternoon and thunderstorms with heavy rain are likely in the south west on Wednesday evening.

Cooler weather will move in from Thursday, although it will be mainly dry with sunny periods, the KNMI weather bureau said.