Meteorologists predicted an unseasonably warm end to May, with temperatures expected to climb in southern Norway this week. Warmer temperatures were also forecast for northern Norway, but more rain was expected.
“There will be a hot period in southern Norway this week,” state meteorologist Arild Mentzoni told Norwegian Broadcasting’s weather service, yr.no. “Many places will reach temperatures up to 24 degrees.”
While temperatures are expected to be warm, and media were predictably declaring that summer had arrived, Norway’s fickle weather patterns mean it’s not yet settled. “There will be varying weather with localized showers all week,” Mentzoni said, and mentioned there may be thunderstorms over the mountain range that divides southern Norway.
The timing couldn’t have been better over the weekend, when hundreds of thousands of people in the south could enjoy perfect weather for Norway’s bicentennial celebration on the 17th of May. The fine weather prolonged the party mood all weekend and into Monday, with many flocking to beaches along the Oslofjord for their first swim of the season.
“We could not sit indoors in this weather,” Ida Nilsson told newspaper Aftenposten. She’d gone to Sarbuvollen beach at Høvik, together with her neighbours Kjersti Tubaas, Linda Kobbeltvedt-Andersen and their children. “Now we’re enjoying the aftermath following May 17.”
The kids said the water was cold, but nice once you’d been in for a while. The mothers said the fact they hadn’t brought their bathing suits was the only thing keeping them from jumping in, too. “We had only planned to be here for a couple of hours,” said Kobbeltvedt-Andersen. “Now we have been here five! The weather was better than we thought it would be.”
Wetter in the north
Wind conditions are expected to be calm, but with stiff breezes along the Vestlandet coastline, up towards central Norway reported yr.no. In the north it’s also forecast to heat up, particularly around Nordland. Much more rain is expected however, with Troms and the western part of Finnmark to be hardest hit.
“The week starts well with calm wind conditions and much steadiness,” said Rafael Kuhnel from northern weather bureau, Vervarslinga for Nord-Norge. “But beyond that, the wind and rain will increase. The temperatures will also drop.”
The north can expect a fine weekend, said Kuhnel. In the south the forecast isn’t settled, but a few showers are expected over a grey weekend. Nevertheless, summer is now here to stay, duty meteorologist Siri Wiberg Horjen told Aftenposten. “The cold we have had for a little while has given up now, and the daytime temperatures going forward will stay around 20 degrees,” she said.
newsinenglish.no/Emily Woodgate
