May 2nd
2024
at
15:52
It is 33 years since we have measured such a cold day in April
Northern Norway got off to a cold start and five stations with 15 to 20 years of operation had the coldest April ever recorded. The country as a whole ends up 0.6 degrees below normal.
This is what the Meteorological Institute writes in a press release.
A total of 17 cold records were set in Norway. A couple of weather stations in Finnmark registered the biggest deviations, with around two degrees below normal.
– The lowest temperature was measured at Cuovddatmohkki in Finnmark. On 5 April it was -32.9 degrees. We haven’t had such low temperatures in April since 1991, says Jostein Mamen, climate researcher at the Meteorological Institute.
The national temperature for April ended 0.6 degrees below normal.
– The end of April was so mild that we only have to go back to 2021 to find a colder April, says Mamen.
Also this month, Norway was like a blue spot compared to the temperatures in Europe.
Since October, temperatures in Norway and Scandinavia have mostly been below normal, while temperatures elsewhere in Europe have been higher than normal.
The only months this did not happen were in February and March.
February ended slightly above normal, thus breaking the continuous streak of cold months since October in this country. We have to go back to 2002/2003 to find a corresponding period where there were large deviations from the normal from October to January.
– That the weather system can hang up does not necessarily have to be because of climate change. At the same time, this is not something we see often, says Hans Olav Hygen, climate researcher at the Meteorological Institute.
The highest maximum temperature was 19.7 degrees, which was recorded as early as the 11th in Lier in Buskerud.
– This means that there was a difference of over 50 degrees between the highest and lowest temperature in April. We have to go back to 2018 to find a bigger temperature difference, says Mamen.
The hottest stations were:
* Lysebotn (Sandnes, Rogaland) 7.4 degrees (0.2 degrees above normal)
* Bergen – Florida (Westland) 7.3 degrees (0.1 degrees above normal)
* Eidfjord III (Vestland), Fister – Sigmundstad (Hjelmeland, Rogaland), and Tafjord (Fjord, Møre and Romsdal) 7.2 degrees (respectively no normal, 0.2 degrees above normal and 0.5 degrees normal)
The coldest stations were:
* Sjufjellet (Balsfjord, Troms, 1074 m) -7.1 degrees (1.3 degrees below normal)
* Reinhaugen (Nesseby, Finnmark) -6.2 degrees (1.7 degrees below normal)
* Rassegalvari (Kautokeino, Finnmark) -6.1 degrees (no normal yet)
National precipitation ended up close to normal. The biggest deviations are 70-100 per cent more rainfall than normal at a couple of stations scattered around the country.
– Relatively wettest was in Roverud in Kongsvinger, which received almost double the normal rainfall, says Mamen.
Relatively driest are stations with below 20–40 per cent of normal, these also spread around the country. Both Saltdal and Lønsdal in Nordland received 75-80 per cent less rainfall than normal.
The wettest stations were:
* Lurøy (Nordland) 222.6 mm (4 percent more precipitation than normal)
* Gullfjellet (Bergen, Vestland) 210.6 mm (same as normal)
* Eimhjellen (Gloppen, Vestland) 209.1 mm (23 per cent more rainfall than normal) The average of the largest monthly rainfall in April in the normal period 1991-2020 is 287 mm.
The driest stations were:
* Skjåk II (Inland) 5.4 mm (23 percent less precipitation than normal)
* Saltdal – Nordnes (Nordland) 6.5 mm (80 per cent less precipitation than normal)
* Tynset – Hansmoen (Inland) 8.1 mm (55 percent less precipitation than normal)
