Industry News
An arctic front has hit Scandinavian countries this week, causing power outages, disrupting traffic and transportation, prompting school closures, and even causing deaths. The unrelenting bout of extreme cold and relentless snowstorms has thrown the region into disarray since Tuesday, January 2, 2024, when temperatures first fell below -40°C (-40°F) in the Nordic.
On Wednesday, January 3, 2024, Swedish Lapland in the far north of the country, recorded the lowest January temperature recorded in Sweden in 25 years of -43.6°C (-46.5°F), according to Sweden’s SVT Nyheter news.
The snowstorm brought up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow to southern Sweden and Denmark, which are not used to these amounts of snow due to their geographic location close to the sea. It snows less often near the sea, as the climate is milder near the ocean. It has been 13 years since Denmark has seen this much snowfall in 24 hours according to the Danish Weather Institute, as there is no place in Denmark that is more than 52 kilometres from the sea.
Several motorists found themselves trapped by heavy snowfall in Sweden, with an estimated 1,000 vehicles stuck for close to 22 hours and being forced to spend the night in their cars on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad in the south of the country. The road is expected to reopen on Friday morning, according to Swedish authorities. Likewise in Denmark motorists were stuck for more than 20 hours on the E45 motorway in a traffic jam temporarily extended to 30 kilometres (18.75 miles) due to heavy snowfall. Police agencies across both countries are urging motorists to exercise caution and refrain from unnecessary journeys.
In Finland, a mother and her 12-year-old son were caught in the extreme weather while backcountry skiing in Lapland near the Swedish border and lost orientation. The two had gone on a multi-night ski tour and were returning to a hotel in Pallastunturi. The mother sent off a distress call on Tuesday when some of the pair’s gear was blown away by the strong gusts of wind. Two separate search and rescue teams set out in the Pyhäkuru area with skimobiles, avalanche dogs, and helicopters, but did not find the mother and son. Emergency services tried to call the mother back, but she did not answer her phone. Later on Tuesday evening around 10 p.m., the mother was found deceased, buried under about half a meter of snow. According to fire chief Pekka Väliheikki at the Lapland rescue service, the son was found on Thursday morning around 11:30 a.m., also deceased, about 150 meters from where his mother had been found two days prior. The boy had been buried under 1.5 meters of snow. They each had their own akia, which ended up close to the surface and made it easier to find them. The exact circumstances are unclear but it is believed it the extremely bad weather combined with an avalanche caused the tragic incident.
This wave of frigid air, originating from Siberia and the Arctic region, extends its icy grasp also over western Russia. Moscow and surrounding areas saw temperatures below -30°C (-22°F), a stark departure from the typical early January averages. As the polar intrusion continues to unfold, communities across Northern Europe brace themselves against more disruptions and snow, as the arctic weather pattern is forecast to continue for the remainder of this week.
