Denmark sees record precipitation for 2023
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Residents of Niva, north of Copenhagen, filling sandbags on Dec 20, 2023, to secure the town's harbour against a coming storm.
PHOTO: AFP
COPENHAGEN – A record amount of precipitation fell in Denmark in 2023, meteorologists said on Dec 20, adding that more increases could be expected as a result of climate change.
The annual tally of snow and rainfall as at Dec 20 was over 907mm, the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) said, with more than a week left in the year.
The previous record since measurements started in 1874 was 905mm, a level reached in 1999 and 2019.
On average, the Scandinavian country sees about 760mm of precipitation annually, but this could increase.
“The warming from anthropogenic climate change gradually also leads to increased precipitation in Denmark,” Dr Rasmus Anker Pedersen, a climate scientist at DMI, told AFP.
According to Dr Pedersen, by the end of the century, annual precipitation is expected to increase by 7 per cent.
“The change is not uniform over the year – we do not expect a substantial change in the summer precipitation amounts, while the winter precipitation will increase by 12 per cent,” he said. AFP
