‘A stark reminder of climate change in cold countries that aren’t normally considered vulnerable’

By the Climate Centre

Norway, Sweden and Finland, all of which lie partly above the Arctic Circle, last month saw at least two weeks of unusually hot weather with temperatures above 30°C – a heatwave made 2°C hotter and at least ten times more likely by climate change.

That’s according to a new study by World Weather Attribution scientists out today, which quotes Norway’s TV2 as saying the exceptional heat, for example, posed “a serious challenge” at several Norwegian hospitals as air conditioning systems failed, affecting some surgery and obstetrics.

The study also quotes reports that reindeer across Finland – vital to the Sámi people whose traditional territories lies there and in Norway, Sweden and the Kola Peninsula in Russia – were moving into urban areas in search of shade, while some had died in the heat.

Heatwaves in Finland and Scandinavia have been linked to a range of environmental impacts, including such northward migration by animal populations seeking cooler temperatures, as well as toxic algae, wildfires, dead trees and melting of permafrost that releases methane into the atmosphere.

‘Longest heatwave’

Mika Rantanen, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, said today: “Summer heat extremes in northern Fennoscandia are emerging outside of their range of natural variability.

“Last summer was the warmest in two millennia, and this year we have experienced the longest heatwave ever recorded.”

The latest WWA finding emphasizes “how every fraction of a degree of warming greatly increases the chance of dangerous heatwaves and why working to keep warming below the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement is so important.”

Maja Vahlberg, Climate Consultant at Swedish Red Cross and a Technical Adviser at the Climate Centre, adds: “This heatwave was a stark reminder of the threat of climate change in cold-climate countries that aren’t normally considered vulnerable.

“Our infrastructure was not built to withstand these extreme temperatures and our aging population is increasingly susceptible to dangerous heat.

“We’ve seen some progress in adaptation and preparedness, particularly since 2018, when we experienced our last big heatwave. But we still need to do more to ensure our infrastructure and systems adapted for the cold are also ready for high temperatures.”

The iconic Norwegian Svalbard reindeer, whose natural habitat is threatened by global warming, as are the livelihoods of the Sámi people who depend on reindeer herding. (File photo: Per Harald Olsen/Wikimedia Commons)