Record temperatures of almost 20C were reached in Iceland on Christmas Eve, the local meteorological office has confirmed.
Seyðisfjörður, a small town in the east of Iceland, hit 19.8C on 24 December. Average December temperatures in Iceland are between -1C and 4C.
It was a hot day in general: a temperature of 19.7C was measured at Bakkagerði in eastern Borgarfjörður, in the far east of the country. The previous record was set on 2 December 2019, when the temperature was measured at 19.7C in Kvískerjar in Öræfi, in the south-east of Iceland.
Birgir Örn Höskuldsson, a meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told the RÚV news agency the conditions for the temperature record had been created because warm air of a tropical origin was over the country. A strong high pressure system was drawing warm, moist air to the south and preventing colder air from moving in.
Iceland is getting warmer due to global heating caused by the combustion of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
In May, there were record-breaking heatwaves across the country with areas 3C-4C hotter than usual. May temperature records were set at 94% of all the automatic stations that have operated for at least 20 years. The highest temperature was 26.6C at Egilsstaðir airport in East Iceland on 15 May.
Earlier this year, mosquitoes were found in Iceland for the first time as global heating makes it more hospitable for insects. The country was until then one of just two places that did not have a mosquito population, the other being Antarctica.
Studies have shown the Arctic region is warming at four times the rate of the rest of the planet, and Iceland has experienced record heat this year. Glaciers have been collapsing and fish from warmer, southern climes, such as mackerel, have been found in the country’s waters.
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