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CLIMATE

How much snow will there be in Norway in 2050?

Climate researchers at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway) have estimated the difference in the amount of snow the country is likely to get in 30 years’ time.

How much snow will there be in Norway in 2050?
Photo: lsantilli/Depositphotos

2050 will see around about half as many days suitable for skiing compared with now, MET Norway scientists found according to Forsking.no.

Although it’s impossible to know exactly what will happen to the weather in the future, some calculations can be made, the science media writes.

“If greenhouse gas emissions continue like today, we expect significantly shorter winters in future,” climate scientist Reidun Gangstø Skaland at an event organized by MET Norway earlier this week.

At the event, researchers discussed the climate status for 2020 and also presented new maps showing how much snow, and how many days of snow, Norway is likely to will get in the future.

The maps can be viewed on the Norwegian Meteorological Institute website.

“Winter has already become shorter in the last 30 years and it will continue to shrink,” Skaland said to Forskning.no.

READ ALSO: Two days into 2020, Norway has already broken temperature records twice

Winter days are defined as days with temperatures below zero degrees Celsius.

In 2050, more than a million people in Norway will live in areas with less than one month of winter, according to the MET Norway analysts.

Western city Bergen, for example, will se an average of 10 to 15 winter days, compared to today's 25. In the north, Tromsø will get about winter days 80 days, compared to 120 today.

Other coastal cities, including Larvik, Tønsberg, Moss and Fredrikstad will also have significantly fewer days with snow and cold weather.

Shorter winters also mean fewer days of skiing.

Recent years have seen an average of about 80 days with skiing conditions at Nordmarka near Oslo.

According to the researchers, this will drop to 50 days in 2050 and 30 days in 2100.

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WEATHER

Denmark strikes new record for most rain in a year

Denmark on Wednesday struck a new record for the total annual precitipation, meteorologists said, noting that further increases in annual rain and snowfall could be expected in future years as a result of climate change.

Denmark strikes new record for most rain in a year

The annual tally of snow and rainfall as of Wednesday was over 907 millimeters (35.7 inches), national meteorological institute DMI said with over a week left in the year.

The previous record since measurements started in 1874 was 905mm, a level reached in 1999 and 2019.

On average, the Scandinavian country sees around 760mm of precipitation annually, but this could increase.

“The warming from anthropogenic climate change gradually also leads to increased precipitation in Denmark,” Rasmus Anker Pedersen, a climate scientist at DMI, told AFP.

According to Pedersen, by the end of the century, annual precipitation is expected to increase by seven percent.

“The change is not uniform over the year — we do not expect a substantial change in the summer precipitation amounts, while the winter precipitation will increase by 12 percent.

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