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WEATHER

March tops April’s warmest day in Denmark for first time in 44 years

A rare weather phenomenon has seen Danes shivering in a wintery April after a spring-like March.

Published: 26 April 2017 10:28 CEST
March tops April's warmest day in Denmark for first time in 44 years
Photo: Iris

On March 31st this year, the temperature in Denmark was recorded at 21.5°C (71°F). Since then it has not come close, resulting in the rare event of April failing to have a warmer day than its preceding month.

Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) meteorologist Lars Henriksen confirmed Wednesday that the rest of the month is unlikely to see any of the fair weather that graced the end of March.

“I cannot see us beating 17.8°C (64°F), which was the highest temperature in April. There is a slight possibility on Sunday, but I don’t think it will happen,” he wrote on DMI’s website.

The last time March had a higher warmest temperature than April was back in 1973, when the two months topped out at 18.4°C (65°F) and 15.6°C (60°F)  respectively, a difference of 2.8°C (5°F).

That difference is likely to be a more noticeable 3.8°C (6.8°F) this year, according to DMI’s report.

Since DMI records began in 1874, March has had a warmer highest temperature than April on 11 occasions, so the blip in spring weather itself is less unusual than the size of the difference between the two maximums recorded this year, writes DMI. In fact, only one year in the institute’s records, 1884, shows a greater drop in temperatures.

Temperature highs can usually be expected to go up by 6.4°C (11.5°F) between the third and fourth month of the year, writes DMI.

The end of March this year enjoyed a warm flow of air from the south, while April has been dominated by cold westerly winds, says DMI.

The cold temperatures continued to be felt on Wednesday as cold, slippery roads caused 12 accidents within an hour on the same roundabout, an exit off the Djursland motorway at Lystrup near Aarhus.

“They happened almost all at once, but independently of each other. It started with one car losing control and hitting the barrier and then the same thing happened to the others,” duty officer Per Bennekov of East Jutland Police told TV2.

Many Danish motorist have already switched their winter tyres to summer ones not ideal for the present weather conditions, a “dangerous combination”, said Bennekov.

No serious injuries were reported as a result of the accidents.

Both DMI and the police issued warnings encouraging motorists to drive carefully.

WEATHER

Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

Blizzards in Denmark this week have resulted in the greatest depth of snow measured in the country for 13 years.

Published: 4 January 2024 14:18 CET
Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

A half-metre of snow, measured at Hald near East Jutland town Randers, is the deepest to have occurred in Denmark since January 2011, national meteorological agency DMI said.

The measurement was taken by the weather agency at 8am on Thursday.

Around 20-30 centimetres of snow was on the ground across most of northern and eastern Jutland by Thursday, as blizzards peaked resulting in significant disruptions to traffic and transport.

A much greater volume of snow fell in 2011, however, when over 100 centimetres fell on Baltic Sea island Bornholm during a post-Christmas blizzard, which saw as much as 135 centimetres on Bornholm at the end of December 2010.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s January storms could be fourth extreme weather event in three months

With snowfall at its heaviest for over a decade, Wednesday saw a new rainfall record. The 59 millimetres which fell at Svendborg on the island of Funen was the most for a January day in Denmark since 1886. Some 9 weather stations across Funen and Bornholm measured over 50cm of rain.

DMI said that the severe weather now looks to have peaked.

“We do not expect any more weather records to be set in the next 24 hours. But we are looking at some very cold upcoming days,” DMI meteorologist and press spokesperson Herdis Damberg told news wire Ritzau.

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