スウェーデンで２５年ぶりの寒さ　氷点下４３．６度記録

【ストックホルムＡＦＰ＝時事】スウェーデン極北で３日、１月の夜間としては１９９９年以来の寒さとなる氷点下４３．６度を記録した。（写真はスウェーデン北端キルナ・ビッタンギ村の様子）
　スウェーデン気象水文研究所の気象学者、マティアス・リンド氏によると、観測されたのはクビックヨック・オレンヤルカの観測所。
　同観測所で記録した気温としては、１８８８年に設置されて以来、最低だという。他の北部の観測所でも氷点下４０度以下を記録した。
　同国で最も寒かったのは、１９９９年の１月と１９５１年に記録した氷点下４９度。
　住民は氷点下の寒さには慣れているが、今回は寒さのためバスが運行を停止した。また、鉄道会社Ｖｙは２日、北部ウーメオですべての鉄道の運行を数日間停止すると発表した。
　隣国フィンランドでも２日夜、北部ラップランド地域で氷点下３８．７度を観測し、鉄道の運行が妨げられた。
　ノルウェーも今週末にかけて寒波が到来すると予想されている。同国気象局によると、今週末は気温が氷点下２７度まで下がる可能性がある。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/01/05-16:36）

Sweden on Wednesday recorded its coldest January night in 25 years, with a reading of minus 43.6 degrees Celsius in the far north as a cold snap hit the Nordics.
To put that into perspective, that is the lowest January temperature in Sweden since 1999, Mattias Lind, meteorologist at Sweden's national weather agency SMHI, told AFP.
In January 1999, a temperature of minus 49 degrees Celsius (minus 56.2 Fahrenheit) was recorded in Sweden, which tied the record set in 1951.
Lind said that Wednesday's measurement was made at the Kvikkjokk-Arrenjarka station in Sweden's far north.
It is the lowest temperature that has been recorded in this specific spot since measurements began in 1888, he said.
Several other stations recorded temperatures of below minus 40C in Sweden's north.
While residents of the region are used to seeing freezing temperatures, the recent cold snap has forced local bus operators to suspend services, and train operator Vy said Tuesday that it had cancelled all trains north of the city of Umea for several days.
Trains were also disrupted in neighbouring Finland, where a seasonal record of minus 38.7 Celsius was recorded Tuesday evening in the northern Lapland region.
Several instances of frozen or burst water pipes were also reported, and Finnish broadcaster YLE said around 300 people in the city of Tampere were left without running water on Tuesday.
The cold front is expected to move south over the next few days, with the Finnish capital Helsinki already seeing temperatures falling to minus 15C on Wednesday.
But despite colder temperatures being expected tomorrow, some of the capital's residents were unfazed by the prospect.
I'm really loving it. It's a mindset thing I guess, Katja, a woman in Helsinki, told AFP on Wednesday.
It's all about the clothing, she said, wearing a thick black winter jacket with the hood pulled over her head.
Yeah, just a lot of clothes and the attitude -- Like it's going to be cold but it's beautiful, her friend Nita agreed as snow fell.
The extreme cold is also expected to hit Norway towards the end of the week, with temperatures in Oslo potentially falling to minus 27C this weekend, according to the national weather service.
Heavy snowfall has already impacted the south of the country with school closures and cancelled flights.