Climate and geography: the cold facts
- Swimming in the Copenhagen harbour
Speaking about the weather: there is little reason to cheer. So you’re warned!.
The weather during the summer is unreliable but the Danish summer has its own charm with the long light evenings and early quiet mornings. At least it is what the Danes are thinking. The part of the summer season from the end of June to the middle of August is the hottest part. But do not expect to much.
The winter in Denmark is long, dark, grey and wet, occasionally with snow and minus degrees, but always – perhaps with a few exceptions – with a lack of every kind of charm.
The spring is full of promises not always fullfilled and the automn is – like the winter – wet and grey.
Facts about Danish geography
Location: Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, on a peninsula north of Germany (Jutland); also includes two major islands (Sjaelland and Fyn)
Geographic coordinates: 56 00 N, 10 00 E
Area: total: 43,094 sq km, water: 700 sq km
Includes the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark (the Jutland Peninsula, and the major islands of Sjaelland and Fyn), but excludes the Faroe Islands and Greenland
Land Boundaries: total 68 km, border countries: Germany 68 km
Coastline: 7,314 km
Climate: temperate; humid and overcast; mild, windy winters and cool summers
Terrain: low and flat to gently rolling plains
Elevation extremes: Lowest point: Lammefjord -7 m, highest point: Yding Skovhøj 173 m
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, stone, gravel and sand
Land use: arable land: 55.74%, permanent crops: 0.19%, other: 44.07% (1998 est.)
Environment – current issues: air pollution, principally from vehicle and power plant emissions; nitrogen and phosphorus pollution of the North Sea; drinking and surface water becoming polluted from animal wastes and pesticides
Source: CIA World Fact Book
The Landscape
The present Danish cultural landscape is a highly cultivated landscape, representing the result of developments which have lasted several thousand years.
During this time, the Danes, through their activities, has transformed the landscape by clearing forests, cultivating land and building settlements.
All meaning that today Denmark looks like a well planned garden with its huge monotone areas of cornfields and yellow rape fields.
