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WEATHER

TRAFFIC LATEST: Which Swedish roads should you avoid on Wednesday?

Snow in central Sweden trapped hundreds of cars in traffic jams overnight and closed the Öland Bridge - but which roads are open and which should you still avoid?

TRAFFIC LATEST: Which Swedish roads should you avoid on Wednesday?
Lorries stuck on the E4 northbound outside Jönköping on Wednesday morning. Photo: Mattias Landström/TT

National road 47 between Trollhättan and Oskarshamn

At lunchtime on Wednesday, hundreds of cars were still at a standstill on national road 47 in Västra Götaland, with around 200 lorries stranded on Wednesday morning.

In addition to this, some cars were driving in the wrong direction, according to public broadcaster SVT.

“A number of people have decided to drive around [the traffic jam] despite the road conditions and our recommendations. We’ve heard that people have turned around and driven in the wrong direction,” police press spokesperson August Brandt told SVT.

E4 and E20 motorways and national road 26

Transport Administration press officer Bengt Olsson has warned drivers to avoid the E4 northbound at Jönköping, as well as the E20 motorway and national road 26.

“We still have long-distance trucks stuck at the side of the road, which means it can be tight to get past. If you can avoid driving there I think you should do so,” he told SVT.

All of the cars that were stuck on the E4 between Huskvarna and Gränna overnight had been able to continue their journeys as of 9am this morning, Jönköping municipality said in a press statement, although drivers are still encouraged to avoid the road due to ongoing snow removal, and cars are being diverted via Eksjö.

“Road conditions are still difficult and we encourage everyone who can avoid driving to do so. The Transport Administration and the technical office are going to have to shovel the roads,” vice head of Jönköping rescue services Göran Melin told TT newswire.

There are also traffic jams on the E4 between Torsvik and the Asecs shopping centre in Jönköping northbound, as well as on the 933 road between Huskvarna and Gränna.

The E20 outside Mariefred in Sörmland was also at a standstill on Wednesday just before noon after an accident by the Läggesta services, P4 Sörmland reports.

The Öland Bridge

The bridge linking the island of Öland with the mainland was closed on Wednesday morning but has now reopened, although there’s a risk it could be closed again if winds pick up.

“If there are strong gusts of wind on the Öland Bridge there’s a risk that tall or heavily loaded vehicles could get blown away,” Olsson told SVT.

Road 55 north of Norrköping

In Östergötland there is snow and black ice on many roads, including road 55, which was at a standstill northbound on Wednesday morning due to a lorry driving into the barrier in the central reservation and blocking traffic, SVT reports. The road was still closed at noon on Wednesday and is expected to open again this afternoon.

If you’re planning to head out on the Swedish roads this afternoon, make sure to check your planned route via the Transport Administration’s website.

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TOURISM

‘Coolcations’: Tourists flock to Norway and Sweden to dodge summer heat

Driven away from typical summer destinations by intense heat and prolonged heatwaves, tourists are flocking to cooler climates like Norway and Sweden for their holidays.

'Coolcations': Tourists flock to Norway and Sweden to dodge summer heat

Far from her home in the tourist mecca of Tenerife, Cati Padilla is one of the growing number of travellers escaping heatwaves for cooler holidays in Nordic countries.

Countries like Norway and Sweden in northern Europe are now promoting “coolcations” to attract visitors to their temperate climates.

Why leave the Canaries in summer? “To escape the heat,” said Padilla while on holiday with her friends.

“Norway attracted our attention a long time ago because of the green landscape, the mountains and the ice,” added the civil servant in her fifties on the so-called “troll path”, a serpentine mountain route towards the fjords.

In 2023, foreign overnight stays rose by 22 percent in Norway and 11 percent in Sweden according to official statistics, mainly driven by the end of Covid-related restrictions in 2022 and a slump in Scandinavian currencies.

But a survey in Germany for tourist organisation Visit Sweden also found that two out of five people plan to change their travel habits due to the southern European heat, opting for different seasons or cooler destinations.

“Coolcation is not just about the weather,” said Susanne Andersson, head of Visit Sweden. “It’s about travelling to places where it’s a little bit cooler both in the weather but also cooler in the sense of not that many people.”

READ ALSO: Why are temperatures of 25C considered a heatwave in Sweden?

For some people, gone are the overcrowded Mediterranean beaches and heatwaves causing forest fires and the partial closure of the Acropolis in the Greek capital in June.

Nowadays, many prefer to take a dip in a lake or a fjord, or fill their lungs with fresh air on a mountain hike in relative isolation.

– Killer summer –

When British tourist Pam disembarked from a cruise ship on the majestic Geiranger Fjord, a UNESCO World Heritage site, she expected to find cool weather.

But she found herself in sandals and a t-shirt, rather than the raincoat and woollen clothes she packed.

“It’s been wonderful,” said the resident of Lichfield city in west-central England. “It’s still not that hot that you can’t walk.”

“It just does not interest me now to sit on a sunbed, read a book, get up, go and have something to eat and come back to the sunbed. I’d rather visit places, find the history and just look at beautiful places.”

READ MORE: How will Norway be affected by climate change-driven tourism?

The frequency and intensity of extreme heat events and the duration of heatwaves have “almost certainly” increased since 1950 and will continue to do so with global warming, according to UN climate experts.

By 2050, half of Europe’s population could face high or very high risk heat stress in summer, with heat-related deaths potentially doubling or tripling with temperature rises of between 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) to 3C.

“Spain is a no. Greece is a no,” said 74-year-old French pensioner Gerard Grollier, as he disembarked from a coach in Geiranger village in western Norway.

Why Norway? “The climate is much more pleasant,” explained his daughter, Virginie, a financial adviser. “We have not protected our planet, and now that is impacting tourism.”

– Submerged villages –

The capital of Lapland in northern Finland, Rovaniemi, recorded a 29 percent jump in overnight stays last year.

“You can feel the ‘coolcation’ here, the trend started years ago but it has increased with the hot summers in southern and central Europe,” said Sanna Karkkainen, who promotes tourism in Rovaniemi.

The coolcation influx has its issues, including a surge in Airbnb properties and unruly tourists.

“Our main concern is to have too many people at the same time,” emphasised Jan Ove Tryggestad, former mayor of a Norwegian village where a cruise ship carrying 6,000 passengers and 2,000 crew members had just docked.

“It’s a small village here. In Hellesylt, there are between 280 to 300 winter inhabitants. Obviously it’s a bit of a culture shock when suddenly a small town, by European standards, turns up,” he added. “But we adapt.”

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