My daughter moved to Ireland. I visited her this summer. And I found a country that had more seasons in a day than our country. I really loved being there.
As a Dutchie, the best tip I can give is “verstand op nul en gaan met die banaan.” All the weather tips in the world still mean you eventually have to go outside and do your thing. And chances are it “hoost met bakken uit de lucht” when you step outside and the moment you arrive at your destination the sun breaks through. Only to start with “hozen” again when you leave. A few weeks ago it was nice and sunny all morning, but the moment I had to leave for work it starting raining, hard. I had to bike 5 minutes to the bus stop. When I stepped on the bus the rain stopped. When 20 minutes later I got off, the rain started again. I biked 15 minutes to work. Arriving at work it stopped again. That’s Dutch weather. We can have 4 different seasons in a single day. You just have to tolerate it, that’s all there is to it. It can be icy cold early in the morning while in the afternoon you’re walking around in a t-shirt.
Precies. M'n chef had moeite met een rit van pakweg 10 minuten, terwijl ik bijna een uur op de fiets zat, weer of geen weer. Als mensen vroegen hoe ik dat deed, zei ik altijd dat je er niet bij na moest denken en gewoon moest gaan. Als je na gaat denken, heb je al verloren. Dat betekent niet dat ik tijdens een zware rit (heel veel wind tegen, of extreem lage gevoelstemperatuur) nooit heb getwijfeld of ik niet af moest breken. Slechts 2 keer heb ik ook daadwerkelijk afgebroken en een treinstation opgezocht.
In Northern Germany they say: there is no Bad weather, there is only bad clothes...! you perfectly demonstrated this saying! 😉😂 I know now where to shop my jacket next time😊
I am Dutch and moved to California when I was 40. To LA, in the San Fernando valley. The heat in the summer just about did me in ! Good to see you Jovie 🇳🇱💕🌷
How to survive Dutch weather? Check Buienradar just to be sure when you go out and get an wind resilient umbrella. Also make sure your umbrella is a see-through umbrella because 90% of the times you will be holding it in front of you which means it will be blocking your view. When the weather is bad and you don't own a car, don't take the bicycle but public transport instead, when you do have to take the bicycle make sure you also have rain pants and not just a rain coat to keep your legs dry as well. But the best tip I can give you is to just keep up with the daily weather reports and plan your week in such a way that you make sure you don't have to go outside when it rains. Rainy days are great to do the stuff inside your house that you have been neglecting
I rather use Buienalarm. It seems a little more accurate to me. At least where I live (de Veluwe), buienradar seems to be always 5 minutes behind the times.
I kinda look forward to moving to a place where, even if it's raining sideways, plenty of people still walk and cycle to work. Sure, it's not inherently fun, but there's something comforting looking around seeing everyone else in it together with you.
I moved here from Wales 8 years ago. Every time I see the weather on the BBC I realise what a good move this was. You want wind and rain? Go to Wales. Americans please note: Amsterdam is further north than anywhere in the contiguous United States, so come on.... Expect it to be cold, dark and wet in winter, but then think about those long summer evenings when it's light until gone ten and you're out on the patio with a cool Heineken.
@@tarquinmidwinter2056 Yes but the Netherlands is so much more than just Amsterdam. So this is annoying to me. Sorry I know you didn't mean it like that!
@@mariadebake5483 Don't be annoyed. It's just that people might have an idea where Amsterdam is even if they don't know any other cities in NL, and when I wrote this I thought that parts of Limburg might be below the 49th parallel. I just checked, and it turns out that the whole of the Netherlands is further north than the whole of the contiguous USA.
@@tarquinmidwinter2056 Yes you're right, I shouldn't be. And it's indeed strange to realize we are more in the north than the US is. Normally when you speak about it it seems it's not that way, but it is. It's just psychological I guess
Tips: skincare is important. Keep all parts of your skin exposed to the wind well creamed, includes using lip balm. Always have dry socks in emergency newspaper between layers of clothes really helps to protect from the wind. When your shoes are wet and you have no choice put plastic bags over your socks so your feet stay dry, it prevents sores.
I always had to do that too. Use lots of moisturizing cream. Especially for my hands. Since I changed to drinking just water 90% of the time (10% coffee or tea), I don't need it anymore.
I hate umbrella's and rain clothing so I've spent a lot of time trying to stay warm wearing a wet jeans during school and work (you know how jeans get wet when you're cycling, upper legs only, etc). It is a nice way to get a cold. So, yes, keeping a spare item of clothing handy is a very good strategy ;) Also, trees and tunnels are good ways to not get soaking wet during a 'wolkbreuk'. You can complain about the weather collectively in a tunnel too, since there will be loads of people to join in.
Laughs in Minnesotan! I can relate to the jacket part she talked about because here our winters are painfully cold and then the windchill/ general wind on top of that, when the wind sneaks into your arm sleeve or around your neck, having a certain style jacket is such a must!
I love the grey dark days of “wet air” in November and December, it’s the season of warm and cosy homes…. But then, i hate the same weather in January and February
For me it's the opposite. January and February have one great advantage: the days are lengthening again! The best part of December for me begins at the end of the month, the shortest day has passed and the days are becoming longer again. This is the most wonderful thing about this whole dark, depressing season.
@@mariadebake5483 Absolutely yes! I'm always happy when it's 21 december. The days are getting longer. January and February have a higher chance of cold weather. Snow, ice.. And spring is coming. I don't like the dark, grey days in november and december
An American here, I didn't know the Netherlands was so windy, but I went to school and worked in NYC where I stopped carrying an umbrella because the winds in Manhattan can be just like a gale. I've thrown away too many umbrellas before I learned my lesson. I still carried an umbrella that fit my briefcase so I could take it out while walking from the train station to my home.
@@DjamieA I have a Dutch friend who has a windproof umbrella and she told me it really works. In Dutch weather of course when it's still possible to go outside. It might not work in a tornado, or in one of those storms where trees get pulled out of the ground or roofs are blown off buildings. But I'm not sure.
@@DjamieA They work... trust me. I own one now for almost a decade and it still lives, even though it has seen force 9 winds, both from the 'good' direction (where it will bend the fabric and the framework like it is designed to) and the bad direction, where the umbrella will work as a parachute and will drag you along the pavement if you're not careful.
The worst wind I ever experienced was on Saturday 31st January 1953. Even standing on the pedals on my bike, I just could not move forward. Dutch people will remember that day very well, it was the day of the big floods caused by the wind pushing the sea down the North Sea so that it built up and burst through the sea defences flooding huge tracts of land and drowning thousands.
@@JoviesHome The following day, I ended up cycling to my grandparents' house with Sunday dinner for them because they had next to no gas because the water had got into the gas mains - they weren't even connected to the electricity at that time so had no means to boil a kettle nor cook a meal.
@@JoviesHome If you were alive back then that's probably the worst, but for me, I was nearing 2 years old, the January 25, 1990 storm hits the mark for being the worst I ever experienced. I remember short fragments of homes losing their rooftiles like there was no tomorrow and my grandma at our place as she could not get back home anymore (well, she could have had, but my grandpa didn't dare to drive his car out anymore, in hindsight, most likely for the better) 17 people lost their life that day in The Netherlands alone.
There are special wind-resistant umbrellas in the Netherlands, a Dutch invention. Tested in windtunnels. I saw a tester blown over once. Can't remember what happened to the umbrella, but we sure had a lot of fun behind the operating console ;-) (we basically kept increasing the wind speed until the tester was gone)
That must have been the best and funniest work place of all ;-) As far as I know, many wind tunnels have a wider room behind the tunnel stretch and therefore the wind speed is a lot less there.
@@richard--s Exactly! It was completely safe, the tunnel also had fine mesh gratings to catch any parts that might have detached from the models, so no way the tester could be sucked into the propellor. But it sure was fun to see the poor tester trying to keep standing until he/she was swept away ;-) I was there for a maintenance contract. Haven't been there for ages (changed jobs), but that was one of the highlights of my career.... Awesome instruments.
good clothing is a must and when the weather is terrible, i can injoy it when i got home wet and cold, take a hot shower en sit on the couch next to the heating under a blanket whit a hot coco in my hands, wind blowing around the house rain against the windows. Then i injoy the bad weather the most.😁
Actually the Dutch climate is not wild at al. Its relatively mild, never gets really cold or hot for long. Yes it rains quite often but its never torrential like a monsoon or something. Yes its often windy but never like the tornado's that are wrecking Kentucky recently, my deepest sympathy goes out to the victims of that tragedy. The weather in The Netherlands is just mostly kinda "meh" and I like it! Its just something you dont have to worry about apart from which coat you wear and if you have to bring an umbrella or not.
No, but you would be surprised how many tornadoes we actually get. And we even had F5 tornadoes that were in fact heavier than the one in Kentucky. Fortunately they rarel y hot buildings, but we people have been killed last century with Chaam and Tricht partially being flattened by F3 tornadoes. But in the end, the destructive ones are pretty rare. Agreed.
I grew up in Guernsey, and one of the things I miss is the wind - wind you can lean on, which moves full wheelie bins across the yard. Wind strong enough that frail elderly people daren't step outside. Still not as bad as Shetland where I know someone who lost their garden shed one stormy night - they never did find it or anything they had stored in it!
We do get that kind of wind, just not that often ;) Storm Eunice from February 18, 2022 was a nice strong one and was one of the strongest I experienced to the full. Being lifted from the ground and moved a few tenths of centimeters while holding on to a 14 kg heavy tripod (well, that is tripod + camera), is quite something. Also the first time in decades I saw widespread damage to homes and structures. Many fences between gardens were blown to bits, many homes lost tons of rooftiles.
As a dutch native make sure youre torso and feet stay dry and warm. For the rest mostly ignore the weather (o and buienradar comes in handy to avoid the worse). You dry up eventually.
Living on the East coast of England what we get the Dutch get soon after or vice versa. Btw you can get one of the storms names after you, every year the UK Met office, Met Eireann and KNMI ask people to send in names and they then pick the storm names from the names submitted.
You've shared so many good tips! I've lived in the Netherlands virtually my whole life, but I've discovered one game changer fairly recently: the full body rain gear you want to wear cycling to work on wet days can actually include your feet! There are waterproof cycling galoshes out there, and they are perfect.
I've not died from Dutch weather in 51 years, can't be all that bad if it can't kill me :) Mostly for people from warmer climates, remember to acclimate and get used to the lower temperatures. Don't try to "dress for the cold" for the rest of your life, get used to being outside in 15C weather wearing just jeans and a T-shirt. Rather quickly you won't need that padded jacket and heated underwear when it drops to around freezing but be fine with just your jeans and a light jacket unless the wind really picks up. Everything else is more annoying than anything.
What about coming from colder climates? Looks like I'll be moving from Moscow to Amsterdam this summer (fingers crossed, just need that final offer from ING lol) and I'm not worried about the temperatures at all, obviously, but I am pretty worried about the amount of rain. How many rainy days in a year would you say you have on average in the Netherlands? Is it, like, UK level of bad, or is it a bit overexaggerated?
@@germanbushin9723 Depends on where in the UK :) We had an extremely wet autumn, winter, and early spring. Now it's been pretty decent weather for April and May. Summers can be pretty dry. Coming from colder climates you may find the winters rather meh, the summers pretty warm. But from what I remember of my time visiting Moscow in the 1980s, it was pretty warm there too in summer. And oh, bring a rain coat rather than an umbrella. It can be pretty windy and umbrellas often don't survive very long :)
Keep your old winter/ water resistant jacket as a spare. Even if the pockets are broken, or the zipper is iffy. If you have the bad luck of having to go out a few times a day when it pours, you will have a spare, dry jacket, just in case.
Born and raised in the NL but I really feel you on the wind thing. My recommendation: windproof gloves for when you're biking! Decathlon offers some reasonably priced ones.
The thing is, it hardly ever rains the entire day. Even during days with a lot of rain, there will still be relatively long stretches of no or little rain. So especially with the WFH and all, you can just do your grocery shopping accordingly. Social visits you can just delay by half an hour after having looked at a rain app
@@euomu Ik woon niet aan de kust maar hier regent het ook regelmatig de hele dag. Gebeurt vaak. Maar goed, er zijn ook regelmatig dagen die zijn zoals Luk ze beschrijft.
@@euomu We hebben in Nederland meer dagen met regen dan Engeland en toch valt er in Nederland minder regen. Dagen dat het echt 24 uur regent zijn in Nederland zeer zeldzaam.
@@bastiaan4129 We hebben minder dagen met regen dan Engeland (muv het westen daar) en toch regent het meer, in elk geval vergeleken met grote delen van Engeland. In Engeland is het vaker motregen, bij ons vaker zware buien.
I hear you know "waterkoud" now. :) It was your "wind"piece. When it is not that cold, but it feels cold because of the wet wind that soakes all the warmth out of your bones.
My tip: drive a convertible. If the road is dry and without salt and no precipitation is forecasted, i drive top down. Even at -7 at night on the highway.
If you think about it, most of the weather in stories is based on the typical weather found in our region. Sunny but not too hot in the summer, windy and nicely colored leaves in the fall, snow but not too much in the winter and fresh, cool spring days when nature awakens again.
The weather, such a subject here ;-) Yeah, well as you have found out, this windy little country is famous for it's grey days and a very temperate climate with moderate temperatures. So for many of us it is like this: for a real winter feel, one goes in Winter time on Winter-sport with lower temperatures and snow and mountains to go ski and for a real summer feel one goes in summer time on summer holiday to a country with higher temperatures and alotta sun shine to visit Cities, forests, mountains and beaches abroad. That really is the whole purpose of the 2 holidays to begin with ;-) since we don't have that here in The Netherlands
You live quite near the coast where its much windier and wetter. More inland there is less wind and rain. In brabant for example its warmer in spring and summer and colder in winter, even in this small country. With climate change summers are getting hotter and winters wetter and wind stronger. Wet and windy? Scotland is much worse. I do fine with an umbrella when walking most of the days. Rain falls mostly at night anyways. And when you buy a coat, make sure it breathes so you dont get sweaty in it.
We had a late nights work in the garage yesterday. We drove home around 2 am in the thickets fog I have ever seen. Very eerie. Especially driving through parts with more nature and less streetlight.
Coming from Massachusetts, I think the weather is great here.. Back in Boston we would get two feet of snow, (60 centimeters) which you would have to shovel and then two days later you would get two more feet of snow, sometimes three feet of snow (90 centimeters). Sometimes the snow was heavy and wet, most of the time it would drift into deep piles. We would have to shovel the snow off the flat roof of our three car garage to prevent the garage roof from collapsing. We would reach out from some of the upper story windows of our house with long snow rakes, to remove snow from the roof before it melted on the underneath part next to the house and then freeze solid taking down a gutter from the weight of ice that slid down on to it. The car would have to be shoveled out. (We rented out our garages). After removing the snow from our driveway, the town snow plow would come along pushing big ice chunks on to the end of our driveway. We had a snow blower towards the end of living in our house, (we lived there for more than thirty years. Sometimes the snow was just too heavy for the snow blower. Snow season could last for six months. For people using the sidewalks it could be nearly impossible. People were required to shovel their sidewalks, however people living in the corner houses would have the snow plow come along which would push chunks of snow at the end of the block where the crosswalk was. To cross the street, you would have to climb up mounds of snow and carefully navigate your way back down to the street, avoiding deep snow-filled puddles lying there in the street. People with disabilities just could not go out. Here in Utrecht where I now live, I just sweep the little bit of snow we get from in front of our door. Many neighbors don't even bother with that. There was maybe one day last winter when the side streets were really slippery. I have these studded shoe coverings I brought with me so it was easy to walk. I have been dressing in thin layers for a long time from when I lived and bicycled in Boston.
Sounds like my place to live ;) I have an increasinly hard time with the summers in the Netherlands, as the temperature just keeps increasing (only 2021 was a quite normal summer) and the humidity is ridiculous sometimes. When you love winter, The Netherlands is not really the place to be ;) Had a great time in Kyiv when I went there in December 2018. Lots of snow! I always cycled to work, 'weer of geen weer' as we say in Dutch ('Weather or no weather' this means that I cycle when it's raining cats and dogs, or snowing and freezing like mad, and when it's sunny and nice)
@@weeardguy It gets very hot in Boston in the Summer, 90"s + even 100 ( about 32 c to38 c, with heat waves where it doesn't cool down at night for days at a time. Usually the temps in the summer are in the 80's, 28 and up.
@@rebeccaalbrecht771 Yep. What you say is getting ever more common in the Netherlands unfortunately. When I was a kid, temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius were really a thing and uncommon. Last few years, with the 2020 summer being the most outrageous example possible so far, 36 degrees and higher has become very normal, with 2020 topping it by breaking the 40 degree barrier for a few days in a row.
Eh...the record snowfall in Boston ever was 60 cm. Many years the maximum snowfall for a given day is 10-20 cm snow. So I think you are overdoing it a bit. Sure you have more snow than we in Te Netherlands and colder winters. I have looked it up bit the average Bostonian winter is equal to a cold one in NL. So cold, not severe, very severe or extreme which are the other possible categories and are a lot colder. We both have an oceanic climate. Winters have warmed up quite a bit in recent years, but yoru average bostonian winter would have nothing special for The NEtherlands prior to 1988.
Try and go do a nice long forest walk in the rain. You’ll get super muddy obviously but it’s absolutely exhilarating. The sound and smell of rain in the woods is something else.
Just be prepared for rain on any day. However, because of the wind, it is mostly not going on for hours. So before or after you can do nice things outdoors. Like today, half december, perfect wheather for a round of golf, which was great.
As a dutch person, I would say the most important tool is: use buienradar. It's the most well-known dutch tool that predicts whether and how much it'll rain, and basically everyone uses it but you'll really find it very handy. Of course, it can be wrong some times and dutch people can really be pissed at that haha
As a born and raised Dutch person, I must say your tips are really on point! Lovely video Jovie! :D I have finally found the perfect coat that is long and water resistant, has a good hood and the windbreaking sleeve cuffs etc etc, so I really laughed out loud when you just named all the things on your (and my) coat-checklist haha. And the layers ofcourse hahaha, I can relate. XD I also always take an extra set of clean, dry clothes with me to work when the weather forecast isn't looking all that sunny and dry. And actually only use an umbrella about three times a year or so, when it is raining but not windy (doesn't happen often)...otherwise it's indeed useless!
Modstrom winter jackets are the absolute best if your looking for a jacket as described in this video. They are pretty expensive but they are great! I have 4 different types of ‘winter’ jackets (modstrom for very cold, trench coat for normal dry, rain coat for rain, and leather jacket for weird warm spikes). The changes in the weather can be pretty crazy so this way I have the right jacket for each type of weather. And(!) use mittens instead of gloves when you go biking. They are much warmer.
You could have been describing the weather here in SW Ireland, horizontal rain, high winds and when we do get more than three consecutive days of sunshine we are complaining that it's too hot. Talking about the weather is the go to ice breaker. Oh, no such thing as bad weather only the wrong clothing. The often many grey days of just a slight drizzle are described as "soft". Despite the high annual rainfall (125-150 cm), more than two weeks without often results in water restrictions being imposed. Stay safe Jovie.
Ireland ? What we hear often in the Dutch weather forecast: "an area of low pressure causing heavy rainfall is building up over Ireland and moving in our direction'" . Perhaps that's why Ireland is not such a popular holiday destination for man Dutch. :-)
This video really came in handy, I've been wearing my coat from the States since I moved but it's not double layered nor does it have an adjustable hood. I like it but the weather here deserves a different coat. Now I know what to look for!
Jove you've nailed it hilarious! But as a Dutch guy...never had a 2nd set of clothes at work...Rain suits are horrible on a bike you still get wet just from sweat.. during rainy days bad-hair days are very common!. Also when spring arrives people are fucked up, some still wear their winter coats while others jump into their shorts with the first rays of sun!
Same thing happens here in toronto canada....first sign of spring and some are in shorts...first day if cool weather people are in winter coats...so funny
I agree with you on the rain suits. You get just as wet wearing a rain suit than you would not wearing it. They are so sweaty, really very uncomfortable
@@JoviesHome No sometimes I don't know! In the morning I might think: a sweater. In the afternoon, I might change into a blouse. It really is impossible sometimes! But of course it also matters if you're a person who easily feels cold, or the reverse. It can be a challenge! But it's fun
For the ladies, I recommend a pashmina or shawl that can either be used just to prop up the hole under your chin or folded open as an extra layer that is just as warm as an extra jacket. Especially nice for days when I worked at new locations (as a consultant on site, sigh) and would not know what the draft/heating situation would be like there. And I LOVE the love and acceptance you demonstrate for our weather in this video, such a nice way to start my day. You are totally right. My advice would be to go for a short daily walk in whatever gear you need to complete it. "Weer of geen weer" as we say. Great for the mood. Other advice: check dog owners if you want to know what kind of shoes and coat are the most practical and robust everyday solutions.
Oh I have family in AZ, I’m from South Carolina so it does rain constantly especially but I lost my home to a fire, I hate putting on layers. But I’m willing to make that change to get out of America .
What I hate the most from a rainy day, that your bike seat gets wet. Than when you like to bike back home every layer of clothing between your legs gets soaked as well. That why I keep a dry towel in my ‘fietstas’ for rainy days. If other parts of my clothes gets wet, well in a 1,5 hours when your indoors. You’ll be dry.
Well, may be but your version is much warmer. We still skate on ice and canals every now and then, so we can still have many days where the mercury stays below zero. Or -15 to even -25 C (well that is 9 years ago...).
Good vlog. The best raincoat/jacket I have ever bought is from American brand Land's End. Wonderful stadion coat! Waterresistance, nice warm lining and cuffs that keep you warm. The best I ever have had. And it comes down to my knees. It does not look very elegant, but who cares when get home warm and dry!
Something I would also look for in a jacket is this flap over the zip with buttons on the other side. Without it I often get wet because the zip is hard to get waterproof. (I am Austrian but I don't think it matters that much)
I am a Dutchman who lived in Arizona for the last nine years. Once a year you have the monsoon. That means two days in a year a downpour with as result flooded cars parked in the wrong spot. But for the rest of the year clear sky's not a cloud to be found. Only during the winter months you need a hoody early in de days. For the rest of the year temperatures between 40 to 45 Celsius. There you don't talk about the weather, you endure it. In the Netherlands you meet a stranger and you will talk about the weather.
It’s funny to see this. As a house-visiting piano teacher I bike to my pupils in the town I live in and I can’t remember the last time I was soaked by the rain. Maybe the best tip to cope with our weather is to just get used to it.
Those were very good tips Jovie! I have the following to add to them: Hoodies don’t really work on a bike, and I don’t like having something on my head, so I just keep my hair longer during the winter and get my head wet. I don’t mind being wet, as long as it’s not too cold. The other thing that I do to keep warm is having a vest that is one size too big for me. I can wear it over my clothes if I feel cold in the house. This saves a lot of gas because I don’t have to heat the house to a higher temperature. Furthermore you can wear pajama trousers under your normal trousers to keep your legs nice and warm. And if it’s really cold, like -20°, you can buy special woollen underware at a good sports shop.
Just make sure that when you wear a hood and get on a bike, you are still able to look behind you. And I sometimes take my glasses off when biking in the rain, since they don't come with wipers :) As to the wind ... it's a lot less windy when you're farther away from the coast.
Yes glasses in the rain are terrible. I wear glasses too but for me removing them isn't an option because without them I see even less. But sometimes it's as if I'm totally blind on my bike. (Wearing masks is annoying too when you're wearing glasses, don't you think so too?)
@@mariadebake5483 Very annoying, indeed. No matter how well I press that nose clip down, my glasses always fog up. And I do need my glasses when biking fast, to judge speeds and distances correctly. However, in wind and rain, I can't bike fast anyway.
If you have to go somewhere and its raining just don't think about it if you wear a thick coat will be fine and if you get wet it's not bad either, your hair and pants will dry again
I love the weather here. It's not too hot, not too cold, only a little bit of snow (sometimes) in the winter, but never saw enough to require shoveling like in Canada. We surely have to be careful with the wind and I hear they have good storm umbrellas here, I didn't try one yet, I am part of the group of people who don't go out when the weather is bad ha ha ha. I come originally from Brazil and I thank everyday for the fantastic weather we have in The Netherlands (way too hot in Brazil most of the time). I also love the sun isn't strong during fall/winter/spring so I don't use sunscreen (I know I should not skip on it, but I just hate it, sorry). Can't do the same in Brazil, 10 minutes under the sun and you're burning already LOL. I saw a video from Gulce about a year ago where she mentions tea is good for when it's cold and I could not agree more! It's such a cheap, easy and enjoyable way to feel less cold and I have a massive kettle on my desk 😆 Can't believe time is flying by, I am 4 years here already, one more and I can become a citizen (provided I learn enough Dutch like you did, congrats again, by the way, such an achievement)!
The last years have been extremely warm, but in february this year we had to shovel actually. I think in many places 20 cm or more snow fell on the ground and stayed for a while.
Milk and e.g. margarine/halvarine have Vitamin D added to it. Because most Dutch consume a fair amount of dairy products, we get our daily supply of Vitamin D this way. Your jacket resembles mine very much! Almost the same! And yes very practical. You point out the exact important, right things about the jacket! And the wind is something that's always against you. No matter what direction you're cycling in, you're always having head wind. It's what it is. And you're right about the skies. They can be so beautiful. Sometimes I'm just standing still somewhere, looking at the sky, people around me looking like 'What is that stupid woman doing???' while I'm thinking, Wow, how beautiful, how is it possible no one else sees this? No wonder we have amazing paintings of cloudy skies, by Dutch masters! Very nice video Jovie! I don't have any tips by the way, you seem to know most of them.
The weather in the Netherlands can be so windy! I went biking there expecting nice weather, was a real struggle to be able to go forwards and not start going backwards haha, must've chosen the most windy day of the year. greetings from BE!
This is somehow one of the more amusing videos I've watched lately. I was smiling all the way through on a dreary January day in the UK. it's the permanently overcast sky for me at this time of year. The sun simply has no chance of breaking through. Such a mood killer. Life just feels gloomy. Anyway, just another 2 months to go! A reassuring video, I'm not the only one.
I am as Dutch as Dutch can be and never talk about the weather. It is what it is, I cannot change it and complaining about it is bad for people's mood. I also do not watch or listen to weather reports as I do not need someone else to tell me what weather I have experienced today. In the past 8 or 9 months, I have done essential shopping of a person in need of care. Twice a week. One time there was a mizzle and two times a drizzle. Even if I want to complain, I can't.
Oh the made of sugar line....my grandma used that so much that now i do too...but im a big weather baby it's the same weather here in el salvador every day. Come holiday with me anytime! :).
When I lived in the Netherlands it would amazed me how the dutch would go out on their bicycles regardless of the weather! When it was windy and rainy I walked, I looked at a bicycle as a annoyance! 😂
I think I am a very hardned Dutchy. I never wear layers. I would suffocate. I hate long coats and the short coats I do wear are almost always open. It has to be freezing tempartures when I might think about wanting to close the zipper. No scarfs no winter hats I do wear gloves though. I hate cold hands. btw cold and sweaty feet in rubber boots is not strange because they can't breath in them.
Ik ga een daglichtlamp aanschaffen om de donkere dagen te overleven. Behalve: je bent niet van suiker ken ik ook: Tussen de buien is het droog. En: onder de douche word je ook nat 🤣
The worst is when it's windy and it's raining softly like "motregen" or "miezer", when it's not raining enough to wear raingear, and raining to hard to do without some sort of raingear. That type of weather realy gets you soaked. The key is to keap your upperbody and your feet warm and wear layers of the right material. Layers of cotton (shirts) close to your body so you stay dry and which you can wash very often. And layers of wool on top of that so you stay warm. More thin layers is better than less thick layers. And "top it of" with a thin wax coat. Most waxcoats are ugly as hell but they are very durable and keep you very warm and dry. Once you've tried a waxcoat in dutch weather.. you're hooked.
Rain is mostly intermittent, and not pouring down during the whole day (although that can happen,.. but than this tip is useless). Get yourself one or more weather-apps and pick your moment to leave for your commute, shopping, trip to town. Make it earlier if postponing the trip is not possible. Work with the weather, you cannot change it, and "een beetje mopperen mag". Crazy Dutch weather???, Eugh, you mean 50 tornado's in the midwest in the USA in one weekend ?, okay, that is crazy too I think.
Ik heb wel lekker gelachen om deze video. Je laatt het wel erger lijken dan het in mijn beleving is. Maar...ik heb ook een gruwelijke hekel aan wind, zelfs als ik binnen ben. Mijn tip is dan ook: als je wat vaker de auto gebruikt, ook op de grote weg dan is een iets zwaardere auto wel fijn. Ik betaal met liefde iets meer wegenbelasting en in ruil is het sturen bij wind niet zo zwaar voor de armen. 😉
10:30 actually when it's raining it's usually a bit warmer. The wind is still annoying as hell of course, but not as bone freezing cold as say in the evening when it's not raining.
Another good tip about talking about the weather. Learn to compliment and complain about the weather. Also when it's sunny. It's or "finally the sun" and "pfffft, it's to hot all of the sudden". And learn some phrases about the weather. If it's raining it's "good for the plants" or "some rain against the dust, saves me a trip to the car-wash this weekend" .
We're lucky we have this weather. If you had a bad day, week or month you can always blame the weather. It does not fire back on you... on the contrary.
Come to Brabant or Limburg and you will see much less rain and wind than in the coastal provinces. It’s colder there in winter and warmer in summer. Thermal layer. Above that a fleece; thickness depends on the outside temperature. Outside a wind proof and waterproof or water resistant long coat. Don’t use cotton clothing in winter. Cotton will absorb your sweat and hold it. You will get cold that way.
@@mariadebake5483 maybe west Brabant is a bit less dryer but the rest is dryer than the coastal provinces. It isn’t called ‘droge zandgronden ‘ (dry sand grounds) for nothing.
My daughter moved to Ireland. I visited her this summer. And I found a country that had more seasons in a day than our country. I really loved being there.
As a Dutchie, the best tip I can give is “verstand op nul en gaan met die banaan.” All the weather tips in the world still mean you eventually have to go outside and do your thing. And chances are it “hoost met bakken uit de lucht” when you step outside and the moment you arrive at your destination the sun breaks through. Only to start with “hozen” again when you leave.
A few weeks ago it was nice and sunny all morning, but the moment I had to leave for work it starting raining, hard. I had to bike 5 minutes to the bus stop. When I stepped on the bus the rain stopped. When 20 minutes later I got off, the rain started again. I biked 15 minutes to work. Arriving at work it stopped again. That’s Dutch weather.
We can have 4 different seasons in a single day. You just have to tolerate it, that’s all there is to it. It can be icy cold early in the morning while in the afternoon you’re walking around in a t-shirt.
Precies. M'n chef had moeite met een rit van pakweg 10 minuten, terwijl ik bijna een uur op de fiets zat, weer of geen weer. Als mensen vroegen hoe ik dat deed, zei ik altijd dat je er niet bij na moest denken en gewoon moest gaan. Als je na gaat denken, heb je al verloren. Dat betekent niet dat ik tijdens een zware rit (heel veel wind tegen, of extreem lage gevoelstemperatuur) nooit heb getwijfeld of ik niet af moest breken. Slechts 2 keer heb ik ook daadwerkelijk afgebroken en een treinstation opgezocht.
In Northern Germany they say: there is no Bad weather, there is only bad clothes...! you perfectly demonstrated this saying! 😉😂 I know now where to shop my jacket next time😊
Yes, I never knew that our jackets differ so much from those worn abroad.
get the right mindset, don't let the weather hold you back or change your plans. just do it
There is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing
Thanks for the inspiration!
I am Dutch and moved to California when I was 40. To LA, in the San Fernando valley. The heat in the summer just about did me in ! Good to see you Jovie 🇳🇱💕🌷
How to survive Dutch weather? Check Buienradar just to be sure when you go out and get an wind resilient umbrella. Also make sure your umbrella is a see-through umbrella because 90% of the times you will be holding it in front of you which means it will be blocking your view. When the weather is bad and you don't own a car, don't take the bicycle but public transport instead, when you do have to take the bicycle make sure you also have rain pants and not just a rain coat to keep your legs dry as well. But the best tip I can give you is to just keep up with the daily weather reports and plan your week in such a way that you make sure you don't have to go outside when it rains. Rainy days are great to do the stuff inside your house that you have been neglecting
Buienradar is paying now and it was more and more unreliable anyway
Thanks for adding your tips!
@@dirkdemeirleir264 Buienalarm is pretty decent.
I rather use Buienalarm. It seems a little more accurate to me. At least where I live (de Veluwe), buienradar seems to be always 5 minutes behind the times.
I kinda look forward to moving to a place where, even if it's raining sideways, plenty of people still walk and cycle to work. Sure, it's not inherently fun, but there's something comforting looking around seeing everyone else in it together with you.
I moved here from Wales 8 years ago. Every time I see the weather on the BBC I realise what a good move this was. You want wind and rain? Go to Wales. Americans please note: Amsterdam is further north than anywhere in the contiguous United States, so come on.... Expect it to be cold, dark and wet in winter, but then think about those long summer evenings when it's light until gone ten and you're out on the patio with a cool Heineken.
Jovie doesn't live in Amsterdam you know
@@mariadebake5483 I know, but ..... you know.
@@tarquinmidwinter2056 Yes but the Netherlands is so much more than just Amsterdam. So this is annoying to me. Sorry I know you didn't mean it like that!
@@mariadebake5483 Don't be annoyed. It's just that people might have an idea where Amsterdam is even if they don't know any other cities in NL, and when I wrote this I thought that parts of Limburg might be below the 49th parallel. I just checked, and it turns out that the whole of the Netherlands is further north than the whole of the contiguous USA.
@@tarquinmidwinter2056 Yes you're right, I shouldn't be. And it's indeed strange to realize we are more in the north than the US is. Normally when you speak about it it seems it's not that way, but it is. It's just psychological I guess
Jovie is making videos to complain about the weather, she truly is becoming Dutch, isn't she? Haha
I'm feeling more and more Dutch!
She is. Haha I don't think she'd even be able to live in the States anymore. Which is good.
The British do it even better. We talk about all the time to everyone 😂
Nederlanders kunnen alleen maar gelukkig zijn als ze wat te zeiken hebben.
Tips: skincare is important. Keep all parts of your skin exposed to the wind well creamed, includes using lip balm. Always have dry socks in emergency newspaper between layers of clothes really helps to protect from the wind. When your shoes are wet and you have no choice put plastic bags over your socks so your feet stay dry, it prevents sores.
I always had to do that too. Use lots of moisturizing cream. Especially for my hands. Since I changed to drinking just water 90% of the time (10% coffee or tea), I don't need it anymore.
Thanks for the tips!
I hate umbrella's and rain clothing so I've spent a lot of time trying to stay warm wearing a wet jeans during school and work (you know how jeans get wet when you're cycling, upper legs only, etc). It is a nice way to get a cold. So, yes, keeping a spare item of clothing handy is a very good strategy ;)
Also, trees and tunnels are good ways to not get soaking wet during a 'wolkbreuk'. You can complain about the weather collectively in a tunnel too, since there will be loads of people to join in.
Sounds like a great opportunity for community!
Laughs in Minnesotan! I can relate to the jacket part she talked about because here our winters are painfully cold and then the windchill/ general wind on top of that, when the wind sneaks into your arm sleeve or around your neck, having a certain style jacket is such a must!
I love the grey dark days of “wet air” in November and December, it’s the season of warm and cosy homes…. But then, i hate the same weather in January and February
For me it's the opposite. January and February have one great advantage: the days are lengthening again! The best part of December for me begins at the end of the month, the shortest day has passed and the days are becoming longer again. This is the most wonderful thing about this whole dark, depressing season.
@@mariadebake5483 Absolutely yes! I'm always happy when it's 21 december. The days are getting longer. January and February have a higher chance of cold weather. Snow, ice.. And spring is coming.
I don't like the dark, grey days in november and december
An American here, I didn't know the Netherlands was so windy, but I went to school and worked in NYC where I stopped carrying an umbrella because the winds in Manhattan can be just like a gale. I've thrown away too many umbrellas before I learned my lesson. I still carried an umbrella that fit my briefcase so I could take it out while walking from the train station to my home.
Have you tried windproof umbrellas? I'm told they work well. Even in strong wind.
@@gert-janvanderlee5307 I dont rlly think a windproof umbrella exists. I have umbrellas rhat claim to be windproof. It doesnt rlly work.
@@DjamieA our Dutch ones do
@@DjamieA I have a Dutch friend who has a windproof umbrella and she told me it really works. In Dutch weather of course when it's still possible to go outside. It might not work in a tornado, or in one of those storms where trees get pulled out of the ground or roofs are blown off buildings. But I'm not sure.
@@DjamieA They work... trust me. I own one now for almost a decade and it still lives, even though it has seen force 9 winds, both from the 'good' direction (where it will bend the fabric and the framework like it is designed to) and the bad direction, where the umbrella will work as a parachute and will drag you along the pavement if you're not careful.
See the weather like your kids do may be the best advice I have heard all year
I love our Dutch weather
The worst wind I ever experienced was on Saturday 31st January 1953. Even standing on the pedals on my bike, I just could not move forward. Dutch people will remember that day very well, it was the day of the big floods caused by the wind pushing the sea down the North Sea so that it built up and burst through the sea defences flooding huge tracts of land and drowning thousands.
I saw photos of that in National Geographic. Just incredible. I was two years old then.
Oh wow. That's something no one would be able to forget. Thank you for sharing.
@@JoviesHome The following day, I ended up cycling to my grandparents' house with Sunday dinner for them because they had next to no gas because the water had got into the gas mains - they weren't even connected to the electricity at that time so had no means to boil a kettle nor cook a meal.
@@JoviesHome If you were alive back then that's probably the worst, but for me, I was nearing 2 years old, the January 25, 1990 storm hits the mark for being the worst I ever experienced. I remember short fragments of homes losing their rooftiles like there was no tomorrow and my grandma at our place as she could not get back home anymore (well, she could have had, but my grandpa didn't dare to drive his car out anymore, in hindsight, most likely for the better)
17 people lost their life that day in The Netherlands alone.
There are special wind-resistant umbrellas in the Netherlands, a Dutch invention. Tested in windtunnels. I saw a tester blown over once. Can't remember what happened to the umbrella, but we sure had a lot of fun behind the operating console ;-)
(we basically kept increasing the wind speed until the tester was gone)
That must have been the best and funniest work place of all ;-)
As far as I know, many wind tunnels have a wider room behind the tunnel stretch and therefore the wind speed is a lot less there.
@@richard--s Exactly! It was completely safe, the tunnel also had fine mesh gratings to catch any parts that might have detached from the models, so no way the tester could be sucked into the propellor. But it sure was fun to see the poor tester trying to keep standing until he/she was swept away ;-)
I was there for a maintenance contract. Haven't been there for ages (changed jobs), but that was one of the highlights of my career.... Awesome instruments.
It sounds like you had a little too much fun! 😂
Pas op, take care when cycling with a hood on. It easily blocks your view when you have to look over your shoulder to see what is behind you.
True. I always have a hood but I always fold the sides of my hood double so my view isn't impeded
good clothing is a must and when the weather is terrible, i can injoy it when i got home wet and cold, take a hot shower en sit on the couch next to the heating under a blanket whit a hot coco in my hands, wind blowing around the house rain against the windows. Then i injoy the bad weather the most.😁
Yes it's a wonderful feeling! So cozy and comfortable and warm.....
That sounds like a perfect way to get warm!
Actually the Dutch climate is not wild at al. Its relatively mild, never gets really cold or hot for long. Yes it rains quite often but its never torrential like a monsoon or something. Yes its often windy but never like the tornado's that are wrecking Kentucky recently, my deepest sympathy goes out to the victims of that tragedy. The weather in The Netherlands is just mostly kinda "meh" and I like it! Its just something you dont have to worry about apart from which coat you wear and if you have to bring an umbrella or not.
No, but you would be surprised how many tornadoes we actually get. And we even had F5 tornadoes that were in fact heavier than the one in Kentucky. Fortunately they rarel y hot buildings, but we people have been killed last century with Chaam and Tricht partially being flattened by F3 tornadoes. But in the end, the destructive ones are pretty rare. Agreed.
I’m a mailman. Work outdoors no matter what. Good for the character. 😁👍🏼
I have a friend who is from Australia and she loves the Dutch wheater cos it makes her feel really being alive, as she puts it.
I grew up in Guernsey, and one of the things I miss is the wind - wind you can lean on, which moves full wheelie bins across the yard. Wind strong enough that frail elderly people daren't step outside. Still not as bad as Shetland where I know someone who lost their garden shed one stormy night - they never did find it or anything they had stored in it!
That is some adventurous wind!
We do get that kind of wind, just not that often ;) Storm Eunice from February 18, 2022 was a nice strong one and was one of the strongest I experienced to the full. Being lifted from the ground and moved a few tenths of centimeters while holding on to a 14 kg heavy tripod (well, that is tripod + camera), is quite something.
Also the first time in decades I saw widespread damage to homes and structures. Many fences between gardens were blown to bits, many homes lost tons of rooftiles.
I missed our winter and the changing of the seasons so much !
As a dutch native make sure youre torso and feet stay dry and warm. For the rest mostly ignore the weather (o and buienradar comes in handy to avoid the worse). You dry up eventually.
It's nice you ended with the light, which can be truly amazing in the Netherlands.
Living on the East coast of England what we get the Dutch get soon after or vice versa. Btw you can get one of the storms names after you, every year the UK Met office, Met Eireann and KNMI ask people to send in names and they then pick the storm names from the names submitted.
You've shared so many good tips! I've lived in the Netherlands virtually my whole life, but I've discovered one game changer fairly recently: the full body rain gear you want to wear cycling to work on wet days can actually include your feet! There are waterproof cycling galoshes out there, and they are perfect.
I'm glad it was helpful! And thanks for the tip, that sounds perfect!
I've not died from Dutch weather in 51 years, can't be all that bad if it can't kill me :)
Mostly for people from warmer climates, remember to acclimate and get used to the lower temperatures. Don't try to "dress for the cold" for the rest of your life, get used to being outside in 15C weather wearing just jeans and a T-shirt. Rather quickly you won't need that padded jacket and heated underwear when it drops to around freezing but be fine with just your jeans and a light jacket unless the wind really picks up.
Everything else is more annoying than anything.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
What about coming from colder climates? Looks like I'll be moving from Moscow to Amsterdam this summer (fingers crossed, just need that final offer from ING lol) and I'm not worried about the temperatures at all, obviously, but I am pretty worried about the amount of rain. How many rainy days in a year would you say you have on average in the Netherlands? Is it, like, UK level of bad, or is it a bit overexaggerated?
@@germanbushin9723 Depends on where in the UK :)
We had an extremely wet autumn, winter, and early spring. Now it's been pretty decent weather for April and May.
Summers can be pretty dry.
Coming from colder climates you may find the winters rather meh, the summers pretty warm.
But from what I remember of my time visiting Moscow in the 1980s, it was pretty warm there too in summer.
And oh, bring a rain coat rather than an umbrella. It can be pretty windy and umbrellas often don't survive very long :)
Keep your old winter/ water resistant jacket as a spare. Even if the pockets are broken, or the zipper is iffy. If you have the bad luck of having to go out a few times a day when it pours, you will have a spare, dry jacket, just in case.
Born and raised in the NL but I really feel you on the wind thing. My recommendation: windproof gloves for when you're biking! Decathlon offers some reasonably priced ones.
Thank for the tip!
The thing is, it hardly ever rains the entire day. Even during days with a lot of rain, there will still be relatively long stretches of no or little rain.
So especially with the WFH and all, you can just do your grocery shopping accordingly.
Social visits you can just delay by half an hour after having looked at a rain app
Wat een onzin. Jij woont waarschijnlijk niet aan de kust, want hier regent het geregeld gewoon de gehele dag, en het is echt klote.
@@euomu Ik woon niet aan de kust maar hier regent het ook regelmatig de hele dag. Gebeurt vaak.
Maar goed, er zijn ook regelmatig dagen die zijn zoals Luk ze beschrijft.
@@euomu We hebben in Nederland meer dagen met regen dan Engeland en toch valt er in Nederland minder regen. Dagen dat het echt 24 uur regent zijn in Nederland zeer zeldzaam.
It rains 6% of the time to be exact.
@@bastiaan4129 We hebben minder dagen met regen dan Engeland (muv het westen daar) en toch regent het meer, in elk geval vergeleken met grote delen van Engeland. In Engeland is het vaker motregen, bij ons vaker zware buien.
Go with the seasons. The season changes are very noticable and all have there own benefits like fresh food of the season etc.
I hear you know "waterkoud" now. :) It was your "wind"piece. When it is not that cold, but it feels cold because of the wet wind that soakes all the warmth out of your bones.
It's not a nice feeling!
My tip: drive a convertible. If the road is dry and without salt and no precipitation is forecasted, i drive top down. Even at -7 at night on the highway.
If you think about it, most of the weather in stories is based on the typical weather found in our region. Sunny but not too hot in the summer, windy and nicely colored leaves in the fall, snow but not too much in the winter and fresh, cool spring days when nature awakens again.
The weather, such a subject here ;-) Yeah, well as you have found out, this windy little country is famous for it's grey days and a very temperate climate with moderate temperatures. So for many of us it is like this: for a real winter feel, one goes in Winter time on Winter-sport with lower temperatures and snow and mountains to go ski and for a real summer feel one goes in summer time on summer holiday to a country with higher temperatures and alotta sun shine to visit Cities, forests, mountains and beaches abroad. That really is the whole purpose of the 2 holidays to begin with ;-) since we don't have that here in The Netherlands
You live quite near the coast where its much windier and wetter. More inland there is less wind and rain. In brabant for example its warmer in spring and summer and colder in winter, even in this small country. With climate change summers are getting hotter and winters wetter and wind stronger. Wet and windy? Scotland is much worse. I do fine with an umbrella when walking most of the days. Rain falls mostly at night anyways. And when you buy a coat, make sure it breathes so you dont get sweaty in it.
Thanks for the tips!
We had a late nights work in the garage yesterday. We drove home around 2 am in the thickets fog I have ever seen. Very eerie. Especially driving through parts with more nature and less streetlight.
Coming from Massachusetts, I think the weather is great here.. Back in Boston we would get two feet of snow, (60 centimeters) which you would have to shovel and then two days later you would get two more feet of snow, sometimes three feet of snow (90 centimeters). Sometimes the snow was heavy and wet, most of the time it would drift into deep piles. We would have to shovel the snow off the flat roof of our three car garage to prevent the garage roof from collapsing. We would reach out from some of the upper story windows of our house with long snow rakes, to remove snow from the roof before it melted on the underneath part next to the house and then freeze solid taking down a gutter from the weight of ice that slid down on to it. The car would have to be shoveled out. (We rented out our garages). After removing the snow from our driveway, the town snow plow would come along pushing big ice chunks on to the end of our driveway. We had a snow blower towards the end of living in our house, (we lived there for more than thirty years. Sometimes the snow was just too heavy for the snow blower. Snow season could last for six months. For people using the sidewalks it could be nearly impossible. People were required to shovel their sidewalks, however people living in the corner houses would have the snow plow come along which would push chunks of snow at the end of the block where the crosswalk was. To cross the street, you would have to climb up mounds of snow and carefully navigate your way back down to the street, avoiding deep snow-filled puddles lying there in the street. People with disabilities just could not go out. Here in Utrecht where I now live, I just sweep the little bit of snow we get from in front of our door. Many neighbors don't even bother with that. There was maybe one day last winter when the side streets were really slippery. I have these studded shoe coverings I brought with me so it was easy to walk. I have been dressing in thin layers for a long time from when I lived and bicycled in Boston.
Wow, that's a lot of snow! Thanks for sharing and for that perspective!
Sounds like my place to live ;) I have an increasinly hard time with the summers in the Netherlands, as the temperature just keeps increasing (only 2021 was a quite normal summer) and the humidity is ridiculous sometimes.
When you love winter, The Netherlands is not really the place to be ;) Had a great time in Kyiv when I went there in December 2018. Lots of snow!
I always cycled to work, 'weer of geen weer' as we say in Dutch ('Weather or no weather' this means that I cycle when it's raining cats and dogs, or snowing and freezing like mad, and when it's sunny and nice)
@@weeardguy It gets very hot in Boston in the Summer, 90"s + even 100 ( about 32 c to38 c, with heat waves where it doesn't cool down at night for days at a time. Usually the temps in the summer are in the 80's, 28 and up.
@@rebeccaalbrecht771 Yep. What you say is getting ever more common in the Netherlands unfortunately. When I was a kid, temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius were really a thing and uncommon. Last few years, with the 2020 summer being the most outrageous example possible so far, 36 degrees and higher has become very normal, with 2020 topping it by breaking the 40 degree barrier for a few days in a row.
Eh...the record snowfall in Boston ever was 60 cm. Many years the maximum snowfall for a given day is 10-20 cm snow. So I think you are overdoing it a bit. Sure you have more snow than we in Te Netherlands and colder winters. I have looked it up bit the average Bostonian winter is equal to a cold one in NL. So cold, not severe, very severe or extreme which are the other possible categories and are a lot colder. We both have an oceanic climate. Winters have warmed up quite a bit in recent years, but yoru average bostonian winter would have nothing special for The NEtherlands prior to 1988.
Try and go do a nice long forest walk in the rain. You’ll get super muddy obviously but it’s absolutely exhilarating. The sound and smell of rain in the woods is something else.
Yes you're absolutely right. Amazing. And so few people do this so it's usually also very quiet. I love it
Just be prepared for rain on any day. However, because of the wind, it is mostly not going on for hours. So before or after you can do nice things outdoors. Like today, half december, perfect wheather for a round of golf, which was great.
As a dutch person, I would say the most important tool is: use buienradar. It's the most well-known dutch tool that predicts whether and how much it'll rain, and basically everyone uses it but you'll really find it very handy. Of course, it can be wrong some times and dutch people can really be pissed at that haha
As a born and raised Dutch person, I must say your tips are really on point! Lovely video Jovie! :D
I have finally found the perfect coat that is long and water resistant, has a good hood and the windbreaking sleeve cuffs etc etc, so I really laughed out loud when you just named all the things on your (and my) coat-checklist haha. And the layers ofcourse hahaha, I can relate. XD
I also always take an extra set of clean, dry clothes with me to work when the weather forecast isn't looking all that sunny and dry. And actually only use an umbrella about three times a year or so, when it is raining but not windy (doesn't happen often)...otherwise it's indeed useless!
Modstrom winter jackets are the absolute best if your looking for a jacket as described in this video. They are pretty expensive but they are great!
I have 4 different types of ‘winter’ jackets (modstrom for very cold, trench coat for normal dry, rain coat for rain, and leather jacket for weird warm spikes). The changes in the weather can be pretty crazy so this way I have the right jacket for each type of weather.
And(!) use mittens instead of gloves when you go biking. They are much warmer.
Dutch weather is generally British weather after we have finished with it.
Or vice versa! But yes, true!
That's funny!
Here in S Wales we say that the winds are lazy, they would rather go through you than around.
Hahaaa next time the wind tries to stop me, I will think damn you lazy wind!
You could have been describing the weather here in SW Ireland, horizontal rain, high winds and when we do get more than three consecutive days of sunshine we are complaining that it's too hot. Talking about the weather is the go to ice breaker. Oh, no such thing as bad weather only the wrong clothing. The often many grey days of just a slight drizzle are described as "soft".
Despite the high annual rainfall (125-150 cm), more than two weeks without often results in water restrictions being imposed. Stay safe Jovie.
Ireland ? What we hear often in the Dutch weather forecast: "an area of low pressure causing heavy rainfall is building up over Ireland and moving in our direction'" . Perhaps that's why Ireland is not such a popular holiday destination for man Dutch. :-)
Thank you! You stay safe as well!
This video really came in handy, I've been wearing my coat from the States since I moved but it's not double layered nor does it have an adjustable hood. I like it but the weather here deserves a different coat. Now I know what to look for!
I prefer wind over rain.
I loved cycling from school (or later work) in storms.
As long as it was not raining.
no rain no flowers
Ok, it gets cold and windy here sometimes.
But when i saw you descibe the perfect jacket i thought you were preparing for the artic.
Jove you've nailed it hilarious! But as a Dutch guy...never had a 2nd set of clothes at work...Rain suits are horrible on a bike you still get wet just from sweat.. during rainy days bad-hair days are very common!. Also when spring arrives people are fucked up, some still wear their winter coats while others jump into their shorts with the first rays of sun!
Same thing happens here in toronto canada....first sign of spring and some are in shorts...first day if cool weather people are in winter coats...so funny
I agree with you on the rain suits. You get just as wet wearing a rain suit than you would not wearing it. They are so sweaty, really very uncomfortable
Sounds like people really don't know what to wear in Spring! 😂
@@JoviesHome No sometimes I don't know! In the morning I might think: a sweater. In the afternoon, I might change into a blouse. It really is impossible sometimes! But of course it also matters if you're a person who easily feels cold, or the reverse.
It can be a challenge! But it's fun
For the ladies, I recommend a pashmina or shawl that can either be used just to prop up the hole under your chin or folded open as an extra layer that is just as warm as an extra jacket. Especially nice for days when I worked at new locations (as a consultant on site, sigh) and would not know what the draft/heating situation would be like there.
And I LOVE the love and acceptance you demonstrate for our weather in this video, such a nice way to start my day. You are totally right.
My advice would be to go for a short daily walk in whatever gear you need to complete it. "Weer of geen weer" as we say. Great for the mood.
Other advice: check dog owners if you want to know what kind of shoes and coat are the most practical and robust everyday solutions.
Thanks for the tips- and I'm glad you liked the video!
Oh I have family in AZ, I’m from South Carolina so it does rain constantly especially but I lost my home to a fire, I hate putting on layers. But I’m willing to make that change to get out of America .
What I hate the most from a rainy day, that your bike seat gets wet. Than when you like to bike back home every layer of clothing between your legs gets soaked as well. That why I keep a dry towel in my ‘fietstas’ for rainy days. If other parts of my clothes gets wet, well in a 1,5 hours when your indoors. You’ll be dry.
I usually have a plastic bag with me that I can fasten over the saddle when I'm not biking. That way the saddle stays dry.
Oh, a wet seat, that's awful!
Surviving Melbourne weather sounds much the same.....so I think I would fit in rather nicely.
Well, may be but your version is much warmer. We still skate on ice and canals every now and then, so we can still have many days where the mercury stays below zero. Or -15 to even -25 C (well that is 9 years ago...).
"First, complaining" - she really adjusted to our culture, hasn't she? :P
"Very tightly..... tie..." - I snorted while laughing, hilarious bit!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! 😂
Good vlog. The best raincoat/jacket I have ever bought is from American brand Land's End. Wonderful stadion coat! Waterresistance, nice warm lining and cuffs that keep you warm. The best I ever have had. And it comes down to my knees. It does not look very elegant, but who cares when get home warm and dry!
I'm glad you found the perfect jacket! Thanks for sharing!
Something I would also look for in a jacket is this flap over the zip with buttons on the other side. Without it I often get wet because the zip is hard to get waterproof. (I am Austrian but I don't think it matters that much)
Many of Dutch jackets have those. I agree, they're very practical
No umbrella? There is a Dutch invention called storm umbrella. It's usuable at wind force 10.
I had one which lasted for over a year, but even that one eventually gave up.
Wow, that's impressive!
I am a Dutchman who lived in Arizona for the last nine years. Once a year you have the monsoon. That means two days in a year a downpour with as result flooded cars parked in the wrong spot. But for the rest of the year clear sky's not a cloud to be found. Only during the winter months you need a hoody early in de days. For the rest of the year temperatures between 40 to 45 Celsius. There you don't talk about the weather, you endure it. In the Netherlands you meet a stranger and you will talk about the weather.
MERRY Christmas to you & your family .and, of course, my BEST wishes to you ALL for the New Year 2022 !...
It’s funny to see this. As a house-visiting piano teacher I bike to my pupils in the town I live in and I can’t remember the last time I was soaked by the rain. Maybe the best tip to cope with our weather is to just get used to it.
Those were very good tips Jovie! I have the following to add to them:
Hoodies don’t really work on a bike, and I don’t like having something on my head, so I just keep my hair longer during the winter and get my head wet. I don’t mind being wet, as long as it’s not too cold.
The other thing that I do to keep warm is having a vest that is one size too big for me. I can wear it over my clothes if I feel cold in the house. This saves a lot of gas because I don’t have to heat the house to a higher temperature. Furthermore you can wear pajama trousers under your normal trousers to keep your legs nice and warm. And if it’s really cold, like -20°, you can buy special woollen underware at a good sports shop.
Hoodies work quite well on a bike as long as you can tighten it, like Jovie showed. I usually wrap my shawl around it very tightly too. No problem.
Thanks for adding your tips!
Just make sure that when you wear a hood and get on a bike, you are still able to look behind you. And I sometimes take my glasses off when biking in the rain, since they don't come with wipers :)
As to the wind ... it's a lot less windy when you're farther away from the coast.
Yes glasses in the rain are terrible. I wear glasses too but for me removing them isn't an option because without them I see even less. But sometimes it's as if I'm totally blind on my bike.
(Wearing masks is annoying too when you're wearing glasses, don't you think so too?)
Thanks for the reminder!
@@mariadebake5483 Very annoying, indeed. No matter how well I press that nose clip down, my glasses always fog up. And I do need my glasses when biking fast, to judge speeds and distances correctly. However, in wind and rain, I can't bike fast anyway.
@@EJBruin Yep, I really don't see a thing when I'm in the supermarket with a mask over my nose
If you have to go somewhere and its raining just don't think about it if you wear a thick coat will be fine and if you get wet it's not bad either, your hair and pants will dry again
I love the weather here. It's not too hot, not too cold, only a little bit of snow (sometimes) in the winter, but never saw enough to require shoveling like in Canada.
We surely have to be careful with the wind and I hear they have good storm umbrellas here, I didn't try one yet, I am part of the group of people who don't go out when the weather is bad ha ha ha.
I come originally from Brazil and I thank everyday for the fantastic weather we have in The Netherlands (way too hot in Brazil most of the time). I also love the sun isn't strong during fall/winter/spring so I don't use sunscreen (I know I should not skip on it, but I just hate it, sorry). Can't do the same in Brazil, 10 minutes under the sun and you're burning already LOL.
I saw a video from Gulce about a year ago where she mentions tea is good for when it's cold and I could not agree more! It's such a cheap, easy and enjoyable way to feel less cold and I have a massive kettle on my desk 😆
Can't believe time is flying by, I am 4 years here already, one more and I can become a citizen (provided I learn enough Dutch like you did, congrats again, by the way, such an achievement)!
The last years have been extremely warm, but in february this year we had to shovel actually. I think in many places 20 cm or more snow fell on the ground and stayed for a while.
It sounds like you are doing an awesome job acclimating to life here! Congrats! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Thank you!
Milk and e.g. margarine/halvarine have Vitamin D added to it. Because most Dutch consume a fair amount of dairy products, we get our daily supply of Vitamin D this way.
Your jacket resembles mine very much! Almost the same! And yes very practical. You point out the exact important, right things about the jacket!
And the wind is something that's always against you. No matter what direction you're cycling in, you're always having head wind. It's what it is.
And you're right about the skies. They can be so beautiful. Sometimes I'm just standing still somewhere, looking at the sky, people around me looking like 'What is that stupid woman doing???' while I'm thinking, Wow, how beautiful, how is it possible no one else sees this?
No wonder we have amazing paintings of cloudy skies, by Dutch masters!
Very nice video Jovie! I don't have any tips by the way, you seem to know most of them.
I'm glad you can take the time to enjoy the beauty too! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
The weather in the Netherlands can be so windy! I went biking there expecting nice weather, was a real struggle to be able to go forwards and not start going backwards haha, must've chosen the most windy day of the year.
greetings from BE!
It's reffered to as a Dutch hill...
There are even official cycling into a head wind championships if the storm is strong enough!
Stay safe out there!
if it's a bones or no bones day lol.....that scene of the roof flying is wild!
This is somehow one of the more amusing videos I've watched lately. I was smiling all the way through on a dreary January day in the UK. it's the permanently overcast sky for me at this time of year. The sun simply has no chance of breaking through. Such a mood killer. Life just feels gloomy. Anyway, just another 2 months to go! A reassuring video, I'm not the only one.
I am as Dutch as Dutch can be and never talk about the weather. It is what it is, I cannot change it and complaining about it is bad for people's mood. I also do not watch or listen to weather reports as I do not need someone else to tell me what weather I have experienced today.
In the past 8 or 9 months, I have done essential shopping of a person in need of care. Twice a week. One time there was a mizzle and two times a drizzle. Even if I want to complain, I can't.
Thank you for sharing. I really learn a lot about the Dutch mindsets from comments like yours.
The first thought I had while watching this video was: we're not made of sugar... Yep, I'm Dutch! It's all true what you said.
Oh the made of sugar line....my grandma used that so much that now i do too...but im a big weather baby it's the same weather here in el salvador every day. Come holiday with me anytime! :).
Buienradar is the Dutch best friend, so you can figure out when the (few) 'windows' of clearer weather are coming.
When I lived in the Netherlands it would amazed me how the dutch would go out on their bicycles regardless of the weather! When it was windy and rainy I walked, I looked at a bicycle as a annoyance! 😂
8:20 any recommendations? Portugal, Spain, Greece?
I think I am a very hardned Dutchy. I never wear layers. I would suffocate. I hate long coats and the short coats I do wear are almost always open. It has to be freezing tempartures when I might think about wanting to close the zipper. No scarfs no winter hats I do wear gloves though. I hate cold hands.
btw cold and sweaty feet in rubber boots is not strange because they can't breath in them.
As a dutchman i embrace the weather like a Viking.💪🏻
😂😂 Omg...people will think you live in Antarctica...it's just a little bit rain 😂😂
Ik ga een daglichtlamp aanschaffen om de donkere dagen te overleven. Behalve: je bent niet van suiker ken ik ook: Tussen de buien is het droog. En: onder de douche word je ook nat 🤣
Wij fietsen gewoon tussen de druppels door
Ja we blijven nuchtere Nederlanders toch :)
@@dutchyatchateau Zo is 't!
En 'De meeste regen valt ernaast'.
Try "Outdoor Survival Canada" core's jacket. Even in wind, you won't feel the cold. I have one, at -10C it was too warm, I had to open it
Awesome video as always! I was completely blown away 🌬😊
Funny thing.. I'm still thinking of buying an airconditioning unit. Summers here have become so hot and humid.
Well, Jovie... It's more than a month after this video, I hope you've survied our weather... I'm looking forward to your next video.
The worst is when it's windy and it's raining softly like "motregen" or "miezer", when it's not raining enough to wear raingear, and raining to hard to do without some sort of raingear. That type of weather realy gets you soaked. The key is to keap your upperbody and your feet warm and wear layers of the right material. Layers of cotton (shirts) close to your body so you stay dry and which you can wash very often. And layers of wool on top of that so you stay warm. More thin layers is better than less thick layers. And "top it of" with a thin wax coat. Most waxcoats are ugly as hell but they are very durable and keep you very warm and dry. Once you've tried a waxcoat in dutch weather.. you're hooked.
Thanks for the tips!
Dutch word of the day: waterkoud
Greetings from sunny Thailand. 🌞
There's this Dutch invention: a stormproof umbrella.
Rain is mostly intermittent, and not pouring down during the whole day (although that can happen,.. but than this tip is useless). Get yourself one or more weather-apps and pick your moment to leave for your commute, shopping, trip to town. Make it earlier if postponing the trip is not possible. Work with the weather, you cannot change it, and "een beetje mopperen mag".
Crazy Dutch weather???, Eugh, you mean 50 tornado's in the midwest in the USA in one weekend ?, okay, that is crazy too I think.
It's true, The Netherlands isn't the only one with crazy weather!
During the dark, windy and possibly rather wet season, when the waterkou seeps into your bones, there is only one solution: stamppot!
Your tips about clothing make sense.
Ik heb wel lekker gelachen om deze video. Je laatt het wel erger lijken dan het in mijn beleving is. Maar...ik heb ook een gruwelijke hekel aan wind, zelfs als ik binnen ben. Mijn tip is dan ook: als je wat vaker de auto gebruikt, ook op de grote weg dan is een iets zwaardere auto wel fijn. Ik betaal met liefde iets meer wegenbelasting en in ruil is het sturen bij wind niet zo zwaar voor de armen. 😉
10:30 actually when it's raining it's usually a bit warmer. The wind is still annoying as hell of course, but not as bone freezing cold as say in the evening when it's not raining.
Not always though. Freezing rain with a strong wind feels more bone freezing cold than when it's not raining
@@mariadebake5483 hence the 'usually'
Another good tip about talking about the weather. Learn to compliment and complain about the weather. Also when it's sunny. It's or "finally the sun" and "pfffft, it's to hot all of the sudden". And learn some phrases about the weather. If it's raining it's "good for the plants" or "some rain against the dust, saves me a trip to the car-wash this weekend" .
We're lucky we have this weather. If you had a bad day, week or month you can always blame the weather. It does not fire back on you... on the contrary.
Come to Brabant or Limburg and you will see much less rain and wind than in the coastal provinces. It’s colder there in winter and warmer in summer.
Thermal layer. Above that a fleece; thickness depends on the outside temperature. Outside a wind proof and waterproof or water resistant long coat. Don’t use cotton clothing in winter. Cotton will absorb your sweat and hold it. You will get cold that way.
Tbh I think it rains very often and very much here in Brabant too.....
@@mariadebake5483 maybe west Brabant is a bit less dryer but the rest is dryer than the coastal provinces. It isn’t called ‘droge zandgronden ‘ (dry sand grounds) for nothing.
@@palantir135 Well in Tilburg it rains a lot. A lot. Extremely boring. And it's the "hoge zandgronden", not de droge.
go to the beach during a storm ❤❤❤❤❤
That would be an experience! 😂