For the first time in 150 years, May has been warmer than June in Denmark, according to nationwide measurements from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI). According to DMI’s press release, the average temperature in May was 0.1 degree higher than in June. DMI’s climatologists have calculated the average temperature for June to be 14.5 degrees, while May was at 14.6 degrees. This shift in the usual weather pattern is a historic event, as it is the first time in the 150 years that DMI has been measuring nationwide temperatures that May has been warmer than June.
The climatologists point out that June’s average temperature is at normal levels, while May has been significantly warmer than usual. Normally, the average temperature for May is 11.4 degrees, according to the climate norm for the period 1991-2020. DMI describes this as a “weather coincidence.” Mikael Scharling, a climatologist at DMI, stated in the press release: “We are seeing many temperature records these years, which can generally be attributed to a warmer global climate. However, we cannot say that climate change is the reason why the average temperature for May this year was higher than for June.”
Scharling emphasizes that the natural variations in the Danish weather are large, and that this temperature difference is not necessarily related to climate change. In 1931, for example, June was only 0.5 degrees warmer than May, which until this year was the smallest temperature difference between the two months. One factor that may play a role is the phenomenon that weather “remembers,” as Scharling explains. If May is warm, there is a tendency for June to also be warm, and vice versa.
May this year has not only been warm in Denmark but also globally, according to DMI. This highlights the complex and varying weather patterns we see today.