Iceland in grips of cold snap

Frost and snow in parts of Iceland today.

Frost and snow in parts of Iceland today. Photo: Rax

Anybody venturing outside in Iceland yesterday evening will have found that predictions of bitterly cold weather were not exaggerated.

Even the most extreme forecast minimum temperature was reached – it was exactly -20°C at the Icelandic Met Office weather station at Sandbúðir in inland South-East Iceland early this morning.

It is currently -9°C in the capital Reykjavik and temperatures will struggle to exceed -4°C at their very warmest today.

Residents of Akureyri woke up this morning to temperatures of -10°C and a blanket of white, after heavy snowfall yesterday evening. A Primera Air jet flying a charter flight from Tenerife to Akureyri was forced to divert to Keflavík (KEF) as visibility in North Iceland was so bad.

As can be seen from the map below, practically the entire country will be experiencing freezing temperatures all day. A brief respite is forecast for the weekend and into Monday with the mercury heading back above 0°C, before more freezing conditions arrive next week.

You can check out the weather forecast for your part of Iceland on Iceland Monitor here.

Weather

Light snow

Today

-1 °C

Light rain

Later today

2 °C

Overcast

Tomorrow

3 °C

Warning: Yellow More