Tropical Weather Hits Scandinavia

Nordic countries are emerging from an unprecedented July heatwave that disrupted tourism and shattered local climate records. Temperatures soared above 30°C for weeks, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said in a statement on Monday. 

Nordic countries are relieved after battling an exceptional heatwave which shattered the hopes of foreigners seeking to cool off in the far north – a disappointment meteorologists warn is likely to be repeated.

Tourism has been on the rise in Nordic countries in recent years, driven in part by the trend of "coolcations" – where tourists flee the heat of the Mediterranean for milder temperatures in the north.

But this year record-breaking temperatures in July dashed tourists' hopes of escaping the intense heat.

On Monday, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said in a statement that the country had just emerged from 22 days of temperatures over 30°C – the longest such heatwave since records began in 1961.

July was also the third hottest month recorded in Norway since records began in 1901, with temperatures 2.8 degrees Celsius higher that the seasonal average nationwide, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

A two-week heatwave, between July 12 and 25, was also the hottest ever recorded in the country.

So-called "tropical nights", where the temperature doesn't drop below 20°C, have become commonplace in the region.

Tourists' hot surprise

The unusually high temperatures have been a shock to tourists seeking to escape the heat elsewhere.

Moussaab El Bacha, a Stockholm resident, told AFP about his parent's surprise when they came over from Morocco to visit.

"They were actually quite surprised by the intensity of the heat here. They had expected a cooler break from the Moroccan summer, but instead, it felt like the heat followed them all the way to Sweden," he said.

"It was a bit surreal for them to experience such high temperatures this far north – they kept saying: 'Are we sure we didn't just land in southern Spain?'"

In Haparanda, in Sweden's far north, temperatures reached 25°C or above for 14 consecutive days in July, and in Jokkmokk, the heatwave lasted over 15 days, something not seen in a century, according to the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI).

An ice rink oasis

In Rovaniemi, a Finnish town north of the Arctic Circle which bills itself as the hometown of Santa Claus, temperatures reached above 30°C last week.

The municipality of Joensuu in southeastern Finland opened an ice rink for people to cool off in, to reduce pressure on the local healthcare services, North Karelia's regional healthcare services chief Mikael Ripatti told AFP.

Ripatti said emergency rooms had become overcrowded as people sought care for heat-related health issues.

"The aim was to provide a place to go if it was too hot at home," Ripatti said.

Other cities opened up similar cooling facilities to the public, with a shop in Helsinki letting people lie down next to its cooling shelves.

- (FRANCE 24 with AFP)