Snowday ascending
A snowy week in Norway escalated into “snow chaos” in Oslo. A single day in January had 30.7mm of precipitation, breaking the 1998 record. Buses, trains, and the metro froze in their tracks. While the capital was busy shovelling, mayors of towns in northern Norway chuckled, dismissing Oslo’s chaos as mere “spring weather.” Meanwhile, meteorologists are warning that more snow is on its way.
Now, Norwegians are engaged in a heated debate on the ‘snow narrative’. Are they being overly dramatic, or has Norway truly lost its winter edge? Way up north, skis replace stalled cars without a second thought – it’s January in the Nordics, after all.
However, climate change is putting winter traditions on thin ice, with fewer annual snow days expected across the country in the future. At the same time, researchers warn that while snow days may decline, extreme events like Oslo’s recent “snow chaos” could become more frequent due to climate change.