Mild winter weather set to continue into January

Pack away your toboggans – this winter is not expected to bring much snow or ice

Dec 30, 2013

The unseasonably warm weather looks set to continue for some time to come according to the national meteorological institute, DMI.

“The same mild and unsteady weather we have experienced in December looks set to continue for a while into January,” meteorologist Klaus Larsen told Berlingske newspaper. “And looking even further into the future it’s likely that the low pressure over the north Atlantic will continue to draw warm air over Denmark."

No tobogganing
The lack of cold weather is due to these low pressure systems over the Atlantic, which are likely to remain where they are or push further north.

The low pressure systems will keep the cold Arctic air at bay unless they move south to continental Europe, though Larsen says that DMI’s models do not predict this eventuality for at least several weeks.

“Under any circumstance the sea temperature around us is still so high that any snowfall will be slushy. We will probably have to wait until next winter to have enough snow to go tobogganing,” Larsen said.

Warm December
With an average temperature of around 5.2C, this December will go likely go down as one of the three warmest since records began in 1874.

The average historic December temperature is 1.6C, and while it has averaged a slightly higher 2.2C since the year 2000, Larsen says that this year’s warm temperatures cannot be directly connected to climate change.

The warmest December day was measured on 5 December 1953, with 14.5C, while December 2006 had the highest average temperature of 7C.