in Sweden, to face this very rigorous start to the year, the advice of the army and the inhabitants of Stockholm

The cold wave arriving in France affected Sweden a few days ago. More accustomed than us, the Swedes have some advice for dealing with negative temperatures.

The current cold snap is particularly pronounced. A few days ago, Sweden recorded the lowest temperature in 25 years for January: -43.6 degrees in the far northern mountains. But Scandinavian countries are used to snow and negative temperatures.

Sunday January 7 in Stockholm, it was -16 degrees, which didn’t stop people from going out: with his hockey stick, Frederik introduced his 3-year-old son to ice skating, his cheeks rosy and his mittens well attached. “It’s not that cold, and I like that, a real nice winter !explains Frederik. The key is to have warm clothes, go out for less time, drink hot drinks… And not too many layers on your feet ! there has to be air circulation.”

“There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.”

When the thermometer is close to -20° in places, the newspapers like to recall the good advice of the Swedish army: wear tights under loose pants, prefer wool sweaters to synthetics, and do not cover your nose and mouth with the scarf because condensation from breathing creates humidity.

Another resident of Stockholm, Gustav, has small stalactites in his mustache. “It’s cold enough to skate directly on the lakes, but there’s too much snow, he regrets. In fact, after the ice, there was the snow, which melted and then refroze… So the surface is not good, it is too rough.”

These temperature variations are the nature of climate change. If this biting cold returns every year, it should not make us forget that the climate, in reality, continues to warm up in the Nordic countries.