Europe Freezes as Finland and Sweden Freeze at -40 Degrees Celsius
- Tor Erik Schrøder/NTB Scanpix via AP
Europe – Europe has experienced contrasting cold weather in recent days, with extreme cold temperatures and snowfall disrupting transportation and closing schools in Scandinavia, while strong winds and heavy rain in western Europe caused flooding and at least one death.
Europe experienced extreme cold temperatures after a very hot and dry summer, and a warm fall.
After that, Europe was hit by heavy snowfall and flooding occurred in several countries in Europe, with Finland setting a new temperature record of -44.3 degrees Celsius on Friday, January 5, 2024.
Jalan yang menghubungi kota Odum and Mejlby, Denmark, dilapisi salju tebal
- Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP
Temperatures dropped to a record low of -44.3 degrees Celsius in Finland's northwestern region of Lapland on Friday morning, public broadcaster YLE said, citing the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The institute noted that temperatures below -42 degrees Celsius have only occurred three times this century.
The extreme weather also caused transportation disruptions in Finland, including in the capital Helsinki.
The Finnish National Railway Service (VR) suspended train services on dozens of routes due to the extreme cold weather. The extreme weather in Finland caused electricity consumption to increase and reach record highs over the past few days.
On Friday, electricity prices, which are moving due to high demand, are expected to reach a record high of 2.35 euros per kilowatt-hour.
Meanwhile, cold weather in Sweden has caused temperatures in the north to drop below -40 degrees Celsius. The lowest temperature recorded at Sweden's northernmost weather station, Naimakka, was -43.8 degrees Celsius, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SHMI) said.
The extreme cold and snowfall also caused chaos on many highways in Sweden, public broadcaster SVT reported.
Extremely cold temperatures, snow and strong winds disrupted transportation across the Nordic region, with some bridges closed and some train and ferry services suspended. Some schools in Scandinavia were closed.
Police in most parts of Denmark urged motorists to avoid unnecessary travel as wind and snow hit the north and west of the country. Norway experienced its coldest weather since 2020 on Friday.