2010 Was Coldest Ever December In Denmark

[Alan Robinson]

I see December 2010 has been well debated on this netweather forum, and for us over here in Denmark it has been the coldest December on record with a mean temperature of -4, equalled only by December 1981.

I’m not a great fan of the Danish Met Institute, but one thing they certainly do well is statistics. Perhaps some will find interesting some temperature facts from just across the North Sea.

It seems to me record extremes and means come in fits and starts, and right now we setting records more frequently than is usually the case. The warmest December on record was 2006, with a mean of +7, while one day in January 2005 12.4 degrees was recorded. 2006 was particularly warm, with July averaging 19.6, October 12.2, November 8.1, and December 7 degrees. January 2007 went on to set the record at 5 degrees, while April 2009 was 9.4.

August 1975 gave the highest August temperature ever in Denmark at 36.4, and October 1978 provided a day with 24.1 degrees. This was followed in 1979 by the coolest July on record, namely just 13.6, December 1981 gave a day with -25.6, and January 1982 the lowest ever single measurement for that month of -31.2 degrees. When considering these figures, please do take into account that Denmark’s greatest elevation is a pimple less than 200 metres above sea level, and nowhere is further from some description of coastline than, say, Lincoln.

The DMI tends only to publish superficial data, and I suspect that statistical distribution curves for the information gathered is nothing like the bell-shaped normal distribution at all. We seem rarely to have average weather here. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the distribution curves are in fact bi-modal. Take February for example, for which the minimum mean of -7.1 occurred in 1947, and the maximum mean of 5.5 in 1990. Considering extreme values, March 1888 gave a reading of -27, and March 1990 gave +22 degrees, a difference of 49.2 degrees. If the span of time between 1888 and 1990 is somehow reduces the significance of this huge difference, then what about March 1965, in which month both -24 and +18.5 were both recorded, a massive difference of 42.5 degrees in the same month.

As mentioned, record months seem to come in batches, and I’ve been reading with interest comments about fluctuating solar irradiation, Hale cycles and sunspots. I just wondered why we have just set new cold records for the first time in 30 years. Am I missing something?

[Optimus Prime]

What was the lowest recorded minimum and maximum for December 2010? And are they particularly extreme?

[cuckoo]

Interesting data thank you for posting it. Some impressive statistics, as you say, for a medium sized low-lying country.

I read also that Sweden has had a record cold setting December.

It seems you are well positioned for receiving cold shots, the latest northerly blast from the Baltic low (which skimmed Britain) semmed to hit you head on and I remember a number of northerly blasts last winter, that were initially programmed by the models to hit the UK, later slipped east and hit Denmark / Germany / Poland instead.

[Alan Robinson]

What was the lowest recorded minimum and maximum for December 2010? And are they particularly extreme?

The maximum was 7.3 degrees, which was very short lived, somewhere on the North Sea coast I imagine. That is not extreme at all, and the record is 14.5 degrees in 1953 measured on the island of Fanø, just off Esbjerg.

The minimum was -23 on Sjælland, just before Christmas Eve. That is rather close to the record minimum for December , which is -25.6, measured in west Jutland in 1981. The average extreme minimum between 1874 and 2010 for December is -4, so it is reasonable to say December's extreme minimum was very unusual.

[Alan Robinson]

Interesting data thank you for posting it. Some impressive statistics, as you say, for a medium sized low-lying country.

I read also that Sweden has had a record cold setting December.

It seems you are well positioned for receiving cold shots, the latest northerly blast from the Baltic low (which skimmed Britain) semmed to hit you head on and I remember a number of northerly blasts last winter, that were initially programmed by the models to hit the UK, later slipped east and hit Denmark / Germany / Poland instead.

I've noticed that when the North Atlantic is passive, cold, dry Alpine air masses tend to slip down towards the Gulf of Genoa or the Gulf of Venice, and a small low forms. These depressions very often head off on a track taking their centre through the gap between the Alps and the Carpathian mountains, from where they track roughly north across Poland towards the Baltic Sea. Sometimes they stall east of Sweden, and that is when Denmark gets a northerly blast off Norway's Jotunheimen mountain range.

Oddly enough, this winter so far has been influenced most by weak depressions of this sort from the Mediterranean Sea, while last winter, which was very cold in January and February, was dominated by high pressure over Finland and western Russia. This winter has been very snowy and December very cold, but the causes of two successive harsh winters are quite different in my view.

[willinkent]

According to my brother in Birkerod, heavy drifting snow. Had over 30cm overnight, still falling. Traffic is bad... Im flying out tomorrow....yey... more snow to come apparently.....

PS Copenhagen airport is open and running.....no delays....

Edited January 6, 2011 by willinkent

[Alan Robinson]

According to my brother in Birkerod, heavy drifting snow. Had over 30cm overnight, still falling. Traffic is bad... Im flying out tomorrow....yey... more snow to come apparently.....

PS Copenhagen airport is open and running.....no delays....

Now thawing

[willinkent]

Am in birkerod now and after freezing fog last nite big thaw today and rain. Still knee deep snow in forest though. Lots of huge slabs of ice falling off rooves.

[Alan Robinson]

Am in birkerod now and after freezing fog last nite big thaw today and rain. Still knee deep snow in forest though. Lots of huge slabs of ice falling off rooves.

We had 7 degrees yesterday afternoon, and this morning I have just a few small patches of snow left in the garden. The sea is however still frozen between Tåsinge and Ærø. Think I'll take a stroll across to Marstal and save the ferry ticket..........................plop :wacko:

[willinkent]

its 0c and meant to snow according to radar on dmi.dk..... we shall see, bet its not even the dusting of a few nights ago.....

was in copenhagen yesterday and nyhavn was completely frozen over.....