Nearly Record Heat in East Fjords

Residents of the East Fjords got a glimpse of summer yesterday, when the temperature soared to roughly 20°C (68°F) – which by Icelandic standards is considered hot, even in July.

At Dalatangi point, between Seyðisfjörður and Mjóifjörður fjords, the temperature reached 20.4°C, 20.2°C in Neskaupstaður, 19.6°C in Eskifjörður, as well as at Kollaleira in Reyðarfjörður fjord, and 19.3°C farther north, at Bakkagerði in Borgarfjörður eystri.

The young angler in the picture above seized the chance to go fishing at Mjóeyri in Eskifjörður. Meteorologist Trausti Jónsson tells Morgunblaðið such warm weather is a rare occurrence this early in the year. The temperature at Dalatangi yesterday, 20.4°C, was only a fraction, or 0.1°C, below the national record for March, reached at Kvísker in Öræfi, Southeast Iceland on March 29, 2011. Until yesterday, that was the only time a temperature as high as 20°C had registered in Iceland in March.

Trausti notes that a heat record for the month was set in the upper atmosphere yesterday at an altitude of three and five kilometers above Keflavík International Airport.

This, he states, is caused by unusually warm air over the country, coming from southern seas, which wind and steep mountains helped bring toward earth. After unusually warm weather in the East Fjords in the past couple of days, Trausti expects temperatures to drop somewhat today.

Follow the weather forecast on vedur.is .