HELSINKI (AP) – Finland and Sweden recorded their coldest temperatures of the winter yesterday as thermometers plummeted to minus 40 degrees Celsius (Celsius) as a cold wave gripped the Nordic region.
The thermometer read -41.6 degrees Celsius yesterday in Nikkaluokta, a small indigenous Sami village in northern Sweden, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported.
“Temperatures are the coldest so far this winter and will continue to be quite cold in the north,” SVT meteorologist Nils Holmqvist said.
Swedish railway operators say the cold snap is causing major problems for rail traffic in the north.
The Swedish Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology reported that temperatures in several places in northern Sweden reached -30 degrees Celsius.
In neighboring Finland, the coldest winter record was recorded in the northwestern town of Ilibieska, with temperatures dropping to -37.8°C yesterday.
Temperatures exceeding -30°C were recorded in several locations in the Lapland region of the Arctic Circle.
Finland’s capital Helsinki has also been hit by a cold wave, with temperatures expected to remain between -15C and -20C throughout this week.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute has issued a warning that significant cold weather is spreading across the country this week, with predicted temperatures in some parts of the country potentially exceeding -40 degrees Celsius.
