Skies clouded over once again on Monday, as many Norwegians headed back to work after traditional summer holidays. Unstable weather has characterized much of a season that always seems too short, and forecasters say it will continue through August.
July is the main summer holiday month in Norway, when the days are long and the sun is supposed to shine. But the weather this year was almost impossible for state meteorologists to predict, and their forecasts have often been wrong.
That’s led to lots of complaints, after forecasts of sunshine have been washed out by rain, or when people have dropped outdoor plans because of poor weather reports, only to see the sun come out anyway.
“We’re a bit unfortunate in our placement, in relation to the area where warm air and cold air separate,” meteorologist Siri Wiberg Horjen told newspaper Aftenposten. “Norway lies on the dividing line and that’s where the low pressure systems have built up this year, and that’s why the weather has seemed rather gray and gloomy.”
Statistics showed fewer hours of sunshine in July (195 in Oslo, compared to the “norm” of 246) and only one day with temperatures over 25C (77F), when official thermometers hit 26.2C in Oslo on July 10.
Nor has it been much better elsewhere in Norway. “We normally have several days around 30C (85F),” Wiberg Horjen said, but it hasn’t been that warm anywhere in Norway this year.
Given the heat waves and extreme weather systems that have hit several places in Europe, some might describe Norway’s summer this year as refreshing. For Norwegians longing for the ubiquitous sol og varme (sunshine and warmth), many have been disappointed.
And most Norwegians are in for more unstable weather as the summer season winds down. “There will be periods of quite nice weather but also periods of rain and overcast skies,” Wiberg Horjen said. “It will continue to be extremely variable.”
Views and News from Norway/Nina Berglund
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