A man emerges from the freezing sea after swimming in winter in Helsinki, Finland. Finland is facing an extreme cold snap with temperatures reaching 40°C below zero. | VESA MOLANEN/LEHTIKUVA/AFP/METSUL METEOROLOGIA
Some Nordic countries such as Finland and Sweden experience extreme cold at the beginning of the year, even by local standards. Due to the exceptionally strong cold air mass coming from the Arctic and reaching northern Europe, the temperature reaches values of 40°C below zero.
The severe cold and snow caused transportation problems and disruptions across the region, including in Norway, where a major highway in the south was closed due to the weather and ferry services were suspended. Swedish rail operators reported significant problems with rail traffic in the Arctic north due to the polar flood.
Nikkaluokta, a small indigenous Sami village in northern Sweden, recorded a temperature of minus 41.6°C this Tuesday morning, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported.
“The weather will remain quite cold,” said SVT meteorologist Nils Holmqvist. The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute reported temperatures of 30°C in several places in northern Sweden and issued a snow and wind warning for the center and south of the country.
With a minimum temperature of 43.0 °C below zero, KvikkjokkÅrrenjarka reached its monthly record (same value from 1918) and had the lowest temperature in Sweden in January since the historic January 1999, when it was 49.0 °C below in Karesuando zero, a national cold record.
In neighboring Finland, the lowest low so far this winter was recorded in the northwestern town of Ylivieska, where temperatures fell to 37.8°C below zero this Tuesday. Local meteorologists are forecasting temperatures of up to minus 40 °C for parts of the country during the week.
In the Finnish capital Helsinki, temperatures can drop to 20°C below zero. In the southern Norwegian city of Arendal, authorities announced the closure of schools on Wednesday because sidewalks could not be cleared in time for children to get to school safely.
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