Signal de Botrange | |
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The 6 m high tower at the Signal de Botrange
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Highest point | |
Elevation | 694 m (2,277 ft) [1] |
Listing | Country high point |
Coordinates | 50°30′06″N 6°05′34″E / 50.50167°N 6.09278°ECoordinates: 50°30′06″N 6°05′34″E / 50.50167°N 6.09278°E [1] |
Geography | |
Location | Liège, Belgium |
Parent range | Hautes Fagnes |
Signal de Botrange is the highest point in Belgium, located in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes in French, Hoge Venen in Dutch), at 694 metres (2,277 ft). It is the top of a broad plateau and a road crosses the summit, passing an adjacent café. In 1923, the six-metre-high Baltia tower was built on the summit to allow visitors to reach an altitude of 700 m. A stone tower built in 1934 reaches 718 m.
For several decades a meteorological station was installed at signal Botrange. Since 1999, it was replaced by an automatic station of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium installed on Mount Rigi (scientific station of the High Fens - University of Liege) which is between the signal and the house Botrange Michel.
Signal de Botrange experiences stronger winds than the centre of Belgium. Average and extreme temperatures are usually lower than at any other place in Belgium: the minimum temperature recorded (-25.6 °C) does not, however, exceed the absolute record (-30.1 °C ), observed in the valley of the Lomme, at Rochefort during a temperature inversion. In winter during, on average for three months, the average temperature remains below 0 °C.
Compared to the rest of Belgium rainfall is much higher, at an annual average of 1450 mm compared with 800 mm in Uccle. Rainfall is also much more common: there are over 200 days of precipitation per year (against just over 170 in Uccle). Maximum temperatures in summer rarely exceed 30 °C. The number of days of frost is over 130 days per year and the number of days of snowfall exceeds 35. The maximum thickness of snow was measured on 9 February 1953 at 115 cm of snow. Frost and early snowfall can occur in late in September, but that is exceptional. Late snow may sometimes occur until mid-May.[citation needed]
At the height of winter the site is used as the start of a number of cross-country skiing routes.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Signal de Botrange" on Peakbagger.com Retrieved 29 September 2011
- ^ Cross-country ski map of Botrange