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Oslo
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Winter rolls in from north to south

While residents of Northern Norway were getting whacked with winter weather on Tuesday, state meteorologists warned that it’s on its way to the southern portions of the country as well. Snow is predicted around Oslo on Thursday at elevations over 300 meters.

“Folks will notice that it will get a lot colder on Thursday,” Rafael Escobar Løvdahl of the state meteorological institute told state broadcaster NRK. “In the morning it will be snowing at elevations above 600 meters and we’ll have snow flurries over 300 meters.”

Summer to winter in four days
It was only last weekend that summerlike weather continued to leave Norwegians basking under clear, sunny skies, with temperatures as high as 18C in many areas, not least around Oslo. That’s over now, and it was time to put away the shorts and T-shirts and replace them with warm trousers and turtlenecks.

The cold weather was due to continue through the weekend, although the snow elevations would rise. It was uncertain whether the skies would clear, but temperatures weren’t expected to be much higher than a few degrees over the freezing point.

Waking up to winter
In the northern counties of Troms and Finnmark, residents woke up to snow-decked trees and icy roads, setting off a string of traffic accidents. Police reported nearly 20 collisions, while other vehicles not yet equipped with their winter tires slid off the roads. One car rolled over and landed on its roof in Takelvdalen. Accidents were reported north of Kautokeino towards Alta and at Skaidi, while road warnings were posted between Lakselv and Krasjok, Tana Bru and Varangerbotn and between Hønsa and Repvåg.

Meteorologists had issued local warnings but the wind turned out not to be as strong as first feared. The snow was expected to stick around.

“Cold air is lying over all of Northern Norway, so it will keep sleeting all the way down to the sea,” Løvdahl told yr.no. “You only need to get from the water up to the pier to get snow.” He said the subzero temperatures would continue for the next few days.

newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund

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