Aabenraa

Sister cities

• Kaltenkirchen

History

Aabenraa was first mentioned in historic accounts in the 12th century, when it was attacked by the Wends. After the 1948 Danish spelling reform, which abolished the digraph Aa in favor of Å, there was fervent resistance in Aabenraa. The town feared, among other things, losing its status as first in alphabetical listings (and reputedly the first town alphabetically anywhere in the world), because the letter Å is the last letter in the Dano-Norwegian alphabet. A later revision of the spelling rules allowed for retaining the Aa spelling as an option. While the municipality of Aabenraa and most local citizens use the Aa spelling, Åbenrå remains the option recommended by the Danish Language Board. On June 14, 2019, a low-end IF2/F2/T4 tornado touched down in Aabenraa. Two vehicles were flipped on the local hospital's parking lot. Another primarily rated High-end IF1/F1/T3 tornado struck åbenrå on July 13, 2023, causing moderate damage. Some trees were downed & some buildings were damaged, including one commercial building that had its roof severely blown away. 6 cars were damaged with one being moved 50 Centimetres.

Most-observed species

• Graylag Goose

  Anser anser (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,784
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,533
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,190
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,108
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,976
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,899
• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,824
• Mute Swan

  Cygnus olor (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  2,786

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2003-06-15
  15 km SE of Nyborg, Denmark