Those who saw the 2004 films The Day After Tomorrow or 2014's Into the Storm when they came out probably never imagined that something like this would ever become a reality. However, the series of tornadoes that occurred last weekend were very close.
“As a result of climate change, we may see much more extreme conditions,” meteorologist Reinier van den Berg told EditieNL. “Like warm weather, hurricanes and floods.” We also have examples of this in the Netherlands. “We might see something like this more often because of the downdrafts in Leersum because that's part of the warmer climate. Or flooding in Limburg, Belgium and Germany.”
Puzzle pieces
But the fact that the films later became reality is basically just a coincidence. “Thousands of films are made every year,” says film expert Rudi de Boer. “There is always a good one.” Something that recently seems to be becoming a reality is “contagion”. “It was about a virus coming from China. Now we're seeing that story again.” According to de Boer, there are a few films in and around the Netherlands that have potential predictive value. “Hollywood always overdoes it.”
But such a catastrophic scenario is unlikely to come true in the Netherlands anyway. “It's almost impossible,” says meteorologist Van den Berg. “The conditions are absolutely exceptional. All kinds of puzzle pieces have to fall into the right place. Those conditions like heat, humidity and high winds are very rare in our parts of Europe.”
