Frozen water pipes, – 43.6°C: a wave of extreme cold hits the Nordic countries

The Nordic countries have faced extreme weather over the past 24 hours which has disrupted traffic and affected homes.

With -43.6°C in the north, Sweden recorded, on Wednesday January 3, the lowest temperature in 25 years for a month of January on its territory, a cold wave which affects all the Nordic countries. “This is the lowest January temperature Sweden has seen since 1999”observes Mattias Lind, of the Swedish national meteorological agency SMHI.

Measured at the Kvikkjokk-Årrenjarka station in the northern part of Sweden, it is “the lowest temperature recorded at this precise location since measurements began” on the site in 1888, he specifies. The thermometer in several other stations in northern Sweden, such as in Lapland, showed temperatures below -40°C on Wednesday.

Disruptions to rail traffic

Snow blocking traffic, several hundred homes without electricity for six hours, frozen water pipes… The Nordic countries have faced extreme weather over the past 24 hours which has disrupted traffic and affected homes. Although the region is used to very low temperatures, this cold snap forced bus companies to suspend their activities and the local railway company “Vy” announced on Tuesday January 2 that it would cancel all trains traveling north of the city. Swedish town of Umeå for several days.

In Stockholm, capital of the Scandinavian kingdom, ten to twenty centimeters of snow were expected on Wednesday, according to SMHI. Rail traffic is also experiencing disruptions in neighboring Finland, where a seasonal record of -38.7°C was recorded on Tuesday evening in the northern Sámi region.

Elsewhere in the country, the city of Tampere saw its water pipes freeze, leaving around 300 people without running water on Tuesday, according to local media Yle. Ditto in the Swedish municipality of Kiruna where some 800 homes were without electricity on Wednesday, according to local media NSD, while it was -41°C outside.