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Mild winter weather set to continue into January

admin
December 30th, 2013


This article is more than 11 years old.

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

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."

READ MORE: White Christmas? More like grey

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.


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

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At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”