Second warmest January ever measured in Norway – record temperatures in nine counties

This January has been the second warmest January month ever measured in Norway. New temperature records were set in nine counties, according to the Meteorological Institute.

In Eastern Norway, the month has been the warmest ever since the measurements started 120 years ago.

In all the counties south of Nordland, and Troms and Finnmark, new records have been set – many of them at the country’s oldest measuring stations. In Trøndelag a new record was set on January 20th – with 14 degrees at Rissa.

In Oslo, the average temperature has been 2.8 degrees Celsius, which is 7.1 degrees above normal.

“The trend is clear. The winters are getting milder, and although we do get a good, old-fashioned winter from time to time, it will take longer between these,” says climate researcher Jostein Mamen at the Meteorological Institute.

Also warmer in the north
Also in the north there have been unusual weather conditions. In Bodø, January has had an average temperature of 2 degrees Celsius, which is 4.2 degrees above normal. In Tromsø it has been minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is 2.9 degrees above normal.

In Troms and Finnmark, the warmest temperature was 12.4 degrees at Birtavarre in Kåfjord on January 8th.

The temperature records in January already started just after the New Year. On Thursday, January 2nd, a remarkable national temperature record was set in Sunndalsøra, in Møre and Romsdal, with over 19 degrees Celsius.

The preliminary figures on the last day of the month show records in the average temperature also in Rogaland, Agder, Vestfold and Telemark, Viken, Oslo, Møre and Romsdal, and Vestland.

Snow shortage in Oslo
It had looked like being a snow-free January in the capital. The old record for the latest snowfall in Oslo in January was set in 1990, when there was no snow until January 26th.

On Monday this week the old record was broken, and over Thursday night snow finally fell on the capital. The snow depth was measured to 3 centimeters on Friday morning.

According to meteorologists, there are many indications that winters like this will become more common in the future.

“Mild winter months are even milder than they would have been without climate change. In addition, the probability of an extra mild winter with climate change is increasing,” says climate scientist Reidun Gangstø Skaland at the Meteorological Institute.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today