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Has Denmark already seen the end of sub-zero temperatures this winter?

Europe is warmer than usual for the time of year and Denmark’s weather is set to remain mild for the time being.

Has Denmark already seen the end of sub-zero temperatures this winter?
How likely is this scene from Denmark in January 2016 to be repeated this year? Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

January has so-far had a less-than-wintry feel, with no snow or frost temperatures moving above 10 degrees Celsius in Jutland on Wednesday morning.

Although a slight dip with possible frost has been forecast for the coming weekend, the freezing cold generally associated with Danish winters remains somewhere over the horizon.

No forecasts predict temperatures dropping under 0°C within the next 10 days, TV2 reports.

That is due primarily to westerly fronts bringing warmer air and rain from the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea, according to the weather report.

The prognosis for mild weather through the rest of January is supported by national meteorology agency DMI.

On DMI’s website, meteorologist Mette Tilgaard Zhang writes that next week will see “a primarily westerly flow of mild air with fronts passing over from the west”.

Daytime temperatures are forecast at between 3-8°C, with 2-6°C at night.

Although there is some potential for colder air and “some white in the precipitation” depending on wind conditions, any snow will “not be nationwide and won’t settle for long,” Zhang writes.

The following week – January 20th-26th – is expected to continue the mild pattern, with rain, wind and clouds, and temperatures at 3-8°C and “a little colder at night”.

The last week of 2020’s first month, which goes into February, is still uncertain according to DMI’s monthly prognosis. But the meteorology agency states that “most prognoses lean towards the weather type from (preceding) weeks retaining their grip on the country and continuing”.

February – according to the calendar, the last month of winter – has the “highest chance of ending cold and wintry”, DMI long-term meteorologist SteenHermansen writes.

But according to the long-term forecast issued by DMI in December, even February’s weather currently looks “more likely to finish above average in terms of both temperature and rainfall”, with few signs to suggest major changes from January.

“This is based on average weather patterns over several weeks however, and it would be rather surprising if we don’t get a portion of snow and cold at some point,” the agency adds.

“All signs therefore suggest that we will continue to receive air from the maritime western corner, which is most often mild, humid and unstable, with wintry intervals only lasting for short intervals,” Hermansen concludes.

READ ALSO: Half a million Danish buildings are susceptible to flooding

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WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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