I visited relatives in Vä a suburb of Kristianstad, in southern Sweden during Christmas. Earlier on the same day that I arrived, in the morning, the temperature reached -24.6 C Coldest ever measured in December
The former town of Vä was burned down to the ground by the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus in 1612 when he passed by, during a war.
Instead of rebuilding Vä, the new town of Kristianstad was built and fortified on marsh land as a defense against the Swedes, by the Danish king Christian IV. The town’s name means Christan’s town after his name.
The province of Skåne or Scania as it is called in English was later ceded to Sweden during the peace treaty of Roskilde, partly as a result of the cold weather during the Maunder minimum.
The Swedes invaded Poland in 1655. This invasion over time turn into a quagmire from polish resistance.
This caused the Danish king Frederick III to declare war.
Because of this declaration of war, the Swedes quickly broke up from Poland and invaded Denmark from the south.
To end this new war, King Charles X of Sweden decided to try to march to the Danish capital Copenhagen. Copenhagen is situated on the island of Zealand and the Swedes had no access to its navy.
However during the cold winter of 1658 the Swedes were able to march across the frozen water ways between the Danish islands during a march called The March Across The Belts.
They soon reached Copenhagen and forced a peace deal with the Danes and Skåne was a province that was ceded to Sweden.
During my time there, during Christmas, a blizzard hit the south-eastern part of Skåne and the Danish island of Bornholm. Both very blizzard prone areas.
Passengers rescued from a train stuck in a snow drift.
A Danish minister called to situation on Bornholm, a Danish “Katrina”.
Some people on the island are completely isolated caused by the enormous amounts of drifting snow.
Blizzard on Bornholm
