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Indian summer to hit southern Denmark on Tuesday

Ben Hamilton
October 29th, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

Tropical Tuesday offers Danes a last hurrah with winter waiting around the corner

Roof down and rear lights on, not up on the roof and alighting on the rear (photo: goodfreephotos.com)

The winter coats are out – along with the multiple scarves. People are shivering at the bus stop, and there are fewer bicycles on the road. And it even snowed in places on Sunday.

‘Winter’ has hit Denmark with a vengeance – how dare its people imagine they were living in a warm country. The comedown from the hottest summer on record is a tough pill to swallow. Praise the lord for sensible clothing.

Tropical Tuesday in store
But what’s this we’re hearing? Summer isn’t finished? Apparently a low pressure system from the south will bring heavy rain followed by unseasonably warm air to Denmark on Tuesday, pushing temperatures up to 18 degrees in the south, and to 16 in Copenhagen.

Should it exceed 19.1, it will set a new record for October 30 (recorded in 2005), and if the system hangs around, it will have the all-time November record of 18.5 (2 Nov 1968) in its sights.

The southern parts of Jutland, Funen and Zealand, along with Lolland-Falster, can expect the best of it – and it’s great news for Halloween on Wednesday, even though temperatures are expected to fall 6 degrees by then.

Still, it should mean the skeletons won’t have to ruin the effect by wearing thermals underneath their skimpy outfits.

Behind the curve with rear lights 
In related news, the Rådet for Sikker Trafik safe traffic council has issued a reminder to drivers how important it is to turn on their rear lights now that the majority of commuters are driving home during twilight or darkness.

The clocks went back on Sunday morning, and according to a Rådet for Sikker Trafik survey of 1,664 drivers’ experiences over the last three months, 70 percent have encountered cars that have not turned on their rear lights in dark or foggy conditions – up from 63 percent in 2016.

Drivers either forget to turn on their rear lights or deliberately leave them off to conserve their battery. Fortunately, all cars released since 2016 are mandatorily equipped with sensors that turn on the lights automatically.

Some 2 percent of the drivers reported that the unlit rear lights caused an accident.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

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.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

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.”