Let the sunshine in: May weather breaks Denmark records
Endless rays of glorious sunshine have resulted in a number of new Danish weather records as May draws to a close.
May 2018 will be the month with the most sunshine in the Scandinavian country since 1920, when the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) began recording sunshine hours.
The standing record of 347 hours of sunshine from May 2008 was broken on Wednesday evening.
That means that May has seen an average of 11.5 hours of sunshine daily.
“It is incredible that we have had such high pressure-influenced weather for such a long time,” DMI climatologist Mikael Scharling said.
“We have had high pressure-dominated weather ever since the start of May. That has given us all these sunshine hours and high temperatures,” Scharling added.
The fifth month of the year also produced the second and third all-time sunniest months in Denmark, in 2008 and 1947.
DMI measures sunshine hours from 28 data locations across the country.
A ‘sunshine hour’ is defined as being between completely cloud-free or with 80 percent of the sun’s rays breaking through the clouds.
The sunshine record is not the only one to be broken by this month’s exceptional weather. A temperature record for May was also set earlier in the month.
DMI also expects the average temperature for the month to finish above 15 degrees Celsius.
The record average temperature for a May month is far lower at 13.8°C and dates all the way back to 1889.
“[The average temperature statistic] is a more significant record. It is a large jump, and we can surely say we’d never have got that high in 1889. Global warming is a factor in this record,” Scharling said.
READ MORE: Weather news from Denmark
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May 2018 will be the month with the most sunshine in the Scandinavian country since 1920, when the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) began recording sunshine hours.
The standing record of 347 hours of sunshine from May 2008 was broken on Wednesday evening.
That means that May has seen an average of 11.5 hours of sunshine daily.
“It is incredible that we have had such high pressure-influenced weather for such a long time,” DMI climatologist Mikael Scharling said.
“We have had high pressure-dominated weather ever since the start of May. That has given us all these sunshine hours and high temperatures,” Scharling added.
The fifth month of the year also produced the second and third all-time sunniest months in Denmark, in 2008 and 1947.
DMI measures sunshine hours from 28 data locations across the country.
A ‘sunshine hour’ is defined as being between completely cloud-free or with 80 percent of the sun’s rays breaking through the clouds.
The sunshine record is not the only one to be broken by this month’s exceptional weather. A temperature record for May was also set earlier in the month.
DMI also expects the average temperature for the month to finish above 15 degrees Celsius.
The record average temperature for a May month is far lower at 13.8°C and dates all the way back to 1889.
“[The average temperature statistic] is a more significant record. It is a large jump, and we can surely say we’d never have got that high in 1889. Global warming is a factor in this record,” Scharling said.
READ MORE: Weather news from Denmark
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