Scandinavia Sees 180-degree Flip From Record Heat In June To Record Cold In July

Written by on July 6, 2020 in Rest of Europe with 0 Comments

You don’t get much more of a temperature swing in back to back months than what we’ve seen over Scandinavia from June and July thus far.

Thanks to an unusually strong and persistent blocking high (same system which produced UK’s driest spring) it was a record warm June across Norway, Sweden and Finland as well as a warm June from Scotland through the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and all of western Russia.

It was notably colder further east along the Europe-Asia border of Russia (Urals) and cooler than normal from central France into much of Iberia eastwards through Italy, Greece and southwest Turkey.

The cool June followed a cool, wet May for Iberia where Barcelona received 3x it’s normal May rainfall.

June 2020 saw the focus of above normal temperatures over central Norway and Sweden.

Credit: Michael Ventrice

On the 27 June, Værnes (Trondheim Airport), located 24km to the east of the city reached 34.3C setting a new ALL-TIME record, surpassing the 33.5C set just last July. Records date back to 1946 here.

Credit: Etienne Kapikian

Sweden too observed some remarkable heat with 34.0C reached up as far as 64.6° in the town of Skellefteå. The town of Forse reached 33.4C setting a new ALL-TIME record and breaking the previous record of 32.8C set back in July 2015.

Finally, in Finland, a reading of 33.5C was reached at Kankaanpää Niinisalo. This is Finland’s highest June temperature in 81 years.

Credit: Mika Rantanen
@mikarantane

Then came July and the big flip!

Though it’s early days in July, the very areas which was warmest in June is the coldest compared to average for the first 4 days of July.

Credit: Michael Ventrice

A trough replaced the ridge and in came the much colder air. So cold that Sweden observed it’s coldest July night in some 44 years.

At an elevation of 1413m, Sognefjellshytta in Norway on the morning of July 4 plunged to -7.2C setting a new July minimum for both town and county. Records for this site date back to 1978. This was not far off Norway’s coldest July night of -8.3C recorded at Fannaråki on 5 July 1951.

According to Zdenek Nejedly, another 20 stations in Norway recorded their coldest July night.

As well as being downright cold, heavy snows have hit the coastal mountains around Bergen. Up to 35 disruptive and road-closing centimeters fell at Folgefonna ski centre at Jondal, elevation 1, 200m asl.

Image via Zdenek Nejedly

Credit: OVE FORTUN

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