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WEATHER

Traffic chaos and cancelled flights as blizzard hits east coast of Sweden

Traffic accidents, school closures and cancelled flights were reported in Sweden on Tuesday as a blizzard swept in from the east, with up to 30 centimetres of snow forecast for some areas.

Published: 28 November 2023 15:22 CET
Traffic chaos and cancelled flights as blizzard hits east coast of Sweden
Queues on the E4 motorway south of Stockholm on Tuesday. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT

A yellow weather warning was issued for the north-east of Sweden, from Stockholm to just south of Luleå, including a more serious orange alert for the area around Umeå and Skellefteå, where up to 30 centimetres of snow was expected to fall between Tuesday and Wednesday.

In Gävle, all school buses were cancelled on Tuesday, reported Gefle Dagblad. And in Skellefteå, broadcaster SVT reported schools were to close early so that children could get home before dark.

Several flights between Stockholm and Umeå were delayed due to the blizzard. One flight which was scheduled to land in Umeå at around noon was forced to turn back to the capital due to the strength of the side winds, reports regional newspaper Västerbottens-Kuriren.

Several traffic accidents were reported, including two trucks crashing into each other on the E4 motorway south of Umeå, although by 3pm there had been no reports of serious injuries.

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WEATHER

Sweden’s far north just had one of its hottest summers on record

New stats from state weather agency SMHI have revealed that, despite rain, wind and low temperatures in some areas, the far north of Sweden saw record-breaking heat this summer.

Published: 3 September 2024 14:29 CEST
Updated: 3 September 2024 16:41 CEST
Sweden's far north just had one of its hottest summers on record

In Götaland and Svealand – central and southern Sweden, temperatures were roughly the same this summer as they were between 1991 and 2020. 

However, the average summer temperature was hotter further north. In northern Norrland, temperatures were “very warm, or even extreme,” the weather agency said in a statement.

Karesuando, Abisko and Katterjåkk/Riksgränsen weather stations, which have all carried out temperature measurements for over 110 years, all either broke or neared their previous temperature records, set in 1937.

Records were also broken at weather stations which started recording temperatures after 1937, like Nikkaluokta, Naimakka, Tarfala, all in Lappland, and Överkalix-Svartbyn in Norrbotten.

Kiruna saw the second hottest summer since 1937, and Pajala and Luleå, which both started recording temperatures in 1944, saw their hottest summers since 2002.

Despite this, the hottest temperature this summer was reported in Uppsala, where the mercury hit 32 degrees C on June 28th. Ljusnedal in Jämtland saw the coldest summer temperature: just -2.4C on June 7th.

That may sound low, but according to the agency it’s a “very high minimum temperature” for the summer season. The last time a similarly high temperature was measured during the summer was in 2022, when temperatures dropped to -2.2 degrees in Latnivaara in Lappland.

The only tropical days in the country – days where temperatures didn’t drop below 20C – were also recorded in Norrland, on June 24th and 25th.

In other areas of the country, like Norrköping and Gällivare, the summer months were wetter than usual, with the former breaking a record set in 2011. Gällivare saw the third rainiest summer since records began, just behind the summers of 1954 and 1961.

Gladhammar, in eastern Småland, saw the rainiest single summer day, with 88.8mm of rain falling on July 13th.

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