The low winter sunlight in central and southern Norway can offer long and beautiful sunsets, but not much warmth, and now weather forecasters say a new deep freeze is on the way. Expect double-digit sub-zero temperatures next week.
Norwegians are shivering through one of the earliest and longest cold snaps on record, with several weeks of kuldegrader (sub-zero degrees) that began in mid-November. This week, temperatures rose to a relatively balmy minus-5C in some parts of the Oslo area, and crept over the freezing point along the West Coast, but the respite isn’t expected to last.
State meteorologists predict milder weather through the weekend, but warn of temperatures down to minus-15C in the capital from Monday or Tuesday. A new high-pressure system was moving in over Scandinavia that would bring in more cold air from the north and northeast.
Meanwhile, the sun was shining over much of southern Norway on Wednesday, but snow was expected on Thursday, when thermometers might rise to as high as minus-1 or zero. Then the temperature will likely plummet after the weekend.
Storms were forecast for northern Norway, where the sun no longer rises above the horizon. Western Norway was told to brace for rain and sleet along the coast.
The lengthy period of bitterly cold weather means electricity rates have continued to rise, to as high as NOK 2 per kilowatt hour in Nord-Trøndelag, for example. In some areas, rates are three- to four-times their level last year, but more electricity was expected to be imported from Sweden, relieving the supply-demand situation somewhat in customers’ favour.
Views and News from Norway/Nina Berglund
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