For those who have looked forward to a warm dip in the seas around Denmark in recent weeks, neither the weather nor water temperatures have been over-clement. In fact, according to the TV2 WaterTemperaturePatrol, last Sunday saw the lowest temperature in the patrol’s 16 year history.

“An average temperature of 16.7 degrees may not sound particularly cold, but it is a temperature we have not previously seen before on July 22nd,” says Anders Brandt of the TV2 Weather Service.

“We’ve been close – as in 2004 when the water temperature was 16.8 degrees in the penultimate week of July, but never colder on July 22 in the 16 years since the Patrol jumped into the water for the first time in 1996,” Brandt says.

But all is not lost for 2012, and next weekend promises to be one for the swimmers. Over the next few days sunshine and light breezes are likely to add a couple of degrees to the water temperature, bringing it up to a somewhat more acceptable 19 degrees or a little above.

2012 may indeed end up like the cold summer of 2004, when the first real summer’s day arrived on July 30th with air temperatures pushing 25 degrees. After a few days of sunshine, August 5 saw water temperatures rising to over 21 degrees.

FACEBOOK – Follow Politiken’s News in English