Extreme cold grips the Nordics, breaking a 25-year record in Sweden for the coldest January night

Extreme cold grips the Nordics, breaking a 25-year record in Sweden for the coldest January night

Temperatures fell below minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Nordic region for a second day in a row on January 3, breaking a 25-year-old record for the coldest January night in Sweden as a cold spell gripped the area. In Kvikkjokk-rrenjarka in Swedish Lapland, the mercury dropped to minus 43.6 C (minus 46.5 F), the coldest temperature in the country in January since 1999, Sweden's TT news agency reported.

On January 2, Nikkaluokta, a village inhabited by indigenous Sami people in northern Sweden, recorded a temperature of minus 41.6 C (minus 42.8 F). The village is in Lapland, which stretches from northern parts of Norway through Sweden and Finland to Russia. Ida Dahlstrm of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute said northern Sweden had overnight temperatures of minus 2535 C (minus 13-31 F) and the cold seems to stay there for the rest of the week, TT reported.

The weather – cold with snow and gale-force winds — disrupted transportation throughout the Nordic region, with several bridges closed and some train and ferry services suspended. In Finland, the weather is forecast to remain cold across the nation with temperatures down to minus 35 C (minus 31 F) in the north, at least until December 31.

Police across most of Denmark urged motorists on January 3 to avoid unnecessary trips as wind and snow battered the northern and western parts of the country. However, southern Denmark was battling flooding caused by heavy rain.