Winter temperature records was set last night many places in the Barents Region. The temperature in Finnish Lapland plunged down to minus 41 degrees Celsius. Karesuando in northern Sweden reported minus 40,7 Friday morning. Coldest so far this winter is Kautokeino in Norway where people woke up to minus 45 Thursday morning.
Burning “hot” Arctic. The sun is just above the horizon at 69 degrees north.
Photo: Trude Pettersen
The extreme cold weather in Northern Norway bring along peak consumption of electricity. The power grid is running on max capacity. Thursday morning, large parts of Lofoten, Narvik area and southern Troms in Norway were disconnected from the grid, leaving people with cold electric stoves. Energy companies all over northern Norway are now on high alert, hoping that the grid will stand the strain.
Peoples are requested to save electricity wherever they can.
On Russia’s Kola Peninsula, several cities are running out of fuel supply. Polyarny Zori, Zelenoborsk, and Olenogorsk are places where indoor temperatures have dropped to 10-11 degrees Celsius because the local heating-plants can’t run on full capacity. In Kandalaksha, south in the Murmansk region, indoor apartments are down to 5 degrees.
Outdoor temperatures in the Norwegian-Russian borderland in the Pasvik valley was down to minus 37 degree, while the temperatures outside the news desk of BarentsObserver in Kirkenes was “only” minus 31 degrees this morning.
Combined report Jonas Karlsbakk, Trude Pettersen and Thomas Nilsen
