Speaking to Fréttablaðið yesterday, meteorologist Sigurður Þ. Ragnarsson announced the late arrival of the Icelandic summer. According to Sigurður, good weather is expected in Iceland over the coming days, and may even last a few weeks.
Warm weather may persist for weeks
“Summer’s finally here,” Sigurður Þ. Ragnarsson, known more familiarly as Storm Siggi, declared in an interview with Fréttablaðið yesterday; notwithstanding warm weather in North Iceland last week, this year’s summer has generally received tepid reviews. According to Sigurður, however, the weather is expected to greatly improve over the coming weeks – with warmth and stillness being the operative words.
“We see very warm air gathering in the upper atmosphere, especially to the north of the country, near eastern Greenland,” Sigurður told Fréttablaðið. “This is warm air that you usually don’t see this time of year. There’s also this pressure ridge building over the country, straddling the Atlantic, which would, if everything works out, push any low-pressure systems to the south. These two factors create warm, calm, and dry weather for the entire country, which could remain well into the middle of September – or even longer,” Sigurður remarked.
Sigurður added that many “noteworthy” and “exciting” developments were on the horizon over the next few weeks. “Yes, you heard right: weeks. One almost wants to say – Friday notwithstanding – that the summer’s finally here.”
Warm weather but no record-breaking heat
Although warm weather is expected over the coming weeks, Sigurður tempered expectations with the caveat that Icelanders would not see any record-breaking temperatures; whenever warm air accumulates in the upper atmosphere, wind is required to pull the warmth down to the surface.
“This wind isn’t in our forecasts, so we’re not expecting any records to fall, but, nevertheless, unseasonably warm weather. It’s worth mentioning that whenever you have this persistent low-pressure zone hovering over the country, cloud cover becomes difficult to predict – especially if the sea breeze comes into effect,” Sigurður observed, adding that the weather should begin to improve over the weekend.
“I’m on cloud nine, for my own part, with the prospect of an Indian summer – in the capital area, as well. It’s actually all of Iceland that will be experiencing this pleasant weather for roughly two weeks. If everything works out, this will also help to extend berry and mushroom-picking season, and may even extend the harvest time among potato patches.”
