July in Reykjavík has gotten off to a warm start—by Icelandic standards, at least. The average temperature in the capital area thus far this month has been 11.6°C [52.8 °F]. This is 1.3 degrees above the average July temperatures from 1961 to 1990, and .2 degrees over the July average for the last ten years.
These were among the records and historical figures that meteorologist Trausti Jónsson shared on his blog this week.
In addition to warmer-than-average weather, the capital area has also been getting a great deal of sunshine: 90 hours of sunshine, in fact, since the start of the month. This is 35 more hours of sunshine than are usually experienced in the capital in the first ten days of July. This year is, therefore, ranked 11th in years with the most sunshine in the first ten days of July. Capital residents enjoyed the most sunshine—131.4 hours—in the first ten days of 1957, and suffered a depressing low in July 1977, when there were only 5.2 hours of sunshine in ten days.
This has, in fact, been the 8th warmest summer in Reykjavík since 2000. The warmest early July in the 21st century thus far was in 2009, when the average temperature was 13.4°C [56.1°F]. Last year was the coldest summer thus far—a chilly 9.1°C [48.4°F] on average.
While Reykjavík has been having an ostensible heat wave, temperatures up North have been fractionally colder than usual. The average temperature in Akureyri for the first ten days of July was 10.0°C [50°F], which is -0.1 degrees lower than the average temperature during the same time frame from 1961 – 1990, and -1.0 degrees lower than the average temperature in the town in early July over the last ten years.
Temperatures elsewhere around the country have varied, with some incrementally above the average for the last ten years, such as .9 degrees warmer at the weather station atop the Bláfjöll mountains in Southwest Iceland, and others below it, such as 2.1 degrees cooler at the Gagnheiði.weather station in East Iceland.
