On Wednesday, Sweden recorded the lowest temperature in 25 years in January on its territory, reaching minus 43.6 degrees Celsius in the far north, a cold wave that also affects neighboring Finland and Norway.
“To put things in perspective, this is the lowest temperature Sweden has seen in January since 1999,” Matthias Lind of the Swedish National Meteorological Agency told AFP.
This temperature was measured at the Kvíkyuk Anriarka station in the northern part of Sweden.
“This is the lowest temperature ever recorded at this precise location since measurements began” at the site in 1888, Lind added.
The thermometer at several other stations in northern Sweden, as well as in Lapland, showed temperatures below -40 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
Rail traffic is also experiencing disruptions in neighboring Finland, where a seasonal record of -38.7 degrees Celsius was recorded on Tuesday evening in the Sami region.
Elsewhere in the country, the city of Tampere in the southwest saw water pipes freeze, cutting off water for about 300 people on Tuesday, local media reported.
In Helsinki, where temperatures are around -15 degrees Celsius, the extreme cold predicted by meteorological services in the coming days did not cause disturbances.
A severe weekend cold snap is also expected in Norway as temperatures in the capital Oslo could drop to -27 degrees Celsius this weekend, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.
Heavy snowfall also caused chaos in the south of the country, where schools were closed and flights were cancelled.
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