A number of Nordic countries are facing a “truly unprecedented” heatwave.
Scientists have said the hot temperatures, above 30C, were recorded in the Norwegian part of the Arctic Circle for 12 days, and three weeks in Finland have been the longest streak since 1961.
Mika Rantanen, a climate scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, said was a, “Truly unprecedented heatwave still in full swing with maximum today about 32-33C.”
“Even the Arctic regions … have seen three weeks above 25C, and may rival tomorrow their August heat records,” he added.
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute said temperatures above 30C were recorded on 12 days in July by at least one station in its three northernmost counties.
The institute said it expected temperatures of 30C might be reached again over the weekend.
“We have some hot days ahead of us in northern Norway,” it told The Guardian.
Meteorologists in Sweden said you’d have to go back more than a century to find longer periods of heatwaves in certain areas after several stations in the North of the country noting long-term heatwaves - one in Haparanda measuring 25C or more lasted 14 days in a row.
Northern Europe was faced with sweltering heat in mid-July. Last month was the UK's fifth warmest July on record, according to provisional figures from the Met Office. The mean average temperature across the month was 16.8C, ranking it behind 2006 (17.8C), 2018 (17.2C), 1983 (17.1C) and 2013 (17.0C).
Researchers have found that countries such as the UK, Norway and Switzerland will face the greatest relative rise in uncomfortably hot days as the planet heats up, and have warned that their infrastructure is not well-suited to cope.
