The mild gray weather will continue through the weekend. And those hoping for a white Christmas must prepare to be disappointed, the Meteorological Institute warns.
“It’s not exactly a Christmas idyll,” on-duty meteorologist Rannveig Eikill at the Meteorological Institute told news bureau NTB.
“It is relatively mild in Norway in general, and it will get gray and wet over the weekend,” she added.
Not much hope for a white Christmas
This is especially true in the southern parts of Norway, she noted.
In Northern Norway, it will be somewhat colder this week, with minus degrees in several places.
“But it will be milder during the weekend. There will be a possibility of rain along the coast in Nordland and Troms,” Eikill said, adding that the forecasts are a little more uncertain for Finnmark.
The forecasts will also be more uncertain over the next week and before Christmas Eve itself.
“One can hope that the forecasts change towards the middle of next week,” Eikill said.
“But one should not have too high hopes for a white Christmas,” she concluded.
Warmer weather
Over the past 30 years, December temperatures in Eastern Norway increased by 1.2 degrees – reducing the chances for a white Christmas.
“If you live in Oslo, there is a 60% probability that you will have snow on Christmas Eve.
“Previously, there was an 80% probability of snow on Christmas Eve,” climate researcher Helga Therese Tilley Tajet at the Meteorological Institute said in a press release on Friday.
“We also see similar changes for other cities and towns in the east and south of Norway,” she added.
Mountain passes
The mild weather is still good news for those who set out on a journey across the mountains in the run-up to Christmas.
“The passes are not closed, and it does not look like it the weather will be too bad on the most popular mountain passes,” traffic operator Mikael Olsen told NTB on Wednesday.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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