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WEATHER

Winter is here: snow in central Norway causes road closures

October 1st has coincided with heavy snowfall in central and eastern parts of Norway.

Winter is here: snow in central Norway causes road closures
A 2018 file photo showing snow being cleared from a railway station in Norway. Photo: Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP

Up to 20 centimetres of snow fell in the Dovrefjell National Park area during the night.

Mountain passes at Sognefjellet and Strynefjellet were closed due to the conditions, broadcaster NRK reports.

“It is snowing and windy, so it’s hard to say when (roads) will open again,” Jeanette Andersen, a traffic operator with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), told NRK.

Meanwhile, conditions on National Road (riksveg) 3 in the Østerdalen area are also poor, with NPRA warning motorists of icy conditions, wind and light snowfall.

National Road 15 was reopened at Strynefjellet was reopened after being closed on Monday night, while the E6 motorway remains open in the area but is also affected by the snowfall, and police have warned of icy conditions.

The snow could continue during Tuesday, meteorologist Per Egil Haga told NRK.

“There are precipitation areas in northern parts. We expect this to turn to rain in lower-lying areas during the day. Snow will continue above 800 metres,” Haga said.

Meanwhile, national meteorologist YR forecasts that the cold wind from the north will also affect southern parts of the country on Tuesday, with cool air and rain.

Any precipitation falling above 500-800 metres altitude will take the form of snow, the agency tweeted.

READ ALSO: Norwegians take skis out of storage after freak snowfall

WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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