Iceland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwh0CSsBPfU
geothermal beach ^^^^^

On Wednesday, the mercury soared to values very rarely seen before on the island.

In many places it has not been this warm since a heatwave in the summer of 1944.

The warmest place on Wednesday was Thingvellir, the National Park in the south-west of the country, where 29.3C was reported, which broke the previous station record of 29.0C.

The capital, Reykjavik, also broke its previous highest temperature of 24.8C by reaching 26.2C on Wednesday.

An outstanding achievement considering their temperature records go back more than 150 years.

Generally, the south and west of the island enjoyed the highest temperatures. Nationally, the highest temperature recorded is 30.5C, which was reported on June 22, 1939 at Berufjordur in the East Fjords.

This current warm spell can be put down to the same plume of warm air coming up from the south-east which has been giving us high temperatures in the UK.

http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/environment/2008/07/31/record_temperatures_in_iceland

is this true?
I can hardly believe it :eek:
from July

Snowbie

Iceland south and west coast would be only slightly cooler than our south and west coast as it does fall victim (positive or negative whatever way you see it) to the Gulf Stream. This is where the highest populations are on the island.
In contrast the north and east of the island can be plagued by northerly winds and with the north of the island just tips the Arctic circle making the island very definitely split in temperature between mild and cold.

Temperatures in Ireland will be colder than parts of south and west Iceland this week as Iceland will see returning maritime air from the North Atlantic.
Iceland is/was covered in glaciers and where it get's it name as it was once covered the majority of the land. This land was created from plate faultlines converging on one point of the north Atlantic.

kerry1960

Snowbie wrote: »

Iceland south and west coast would be only slightly cooler than our south and west coast as it does fall victim (positive or negative whatever way you see it) to the Gulf Stream. This is where the highest populations are on the island.
In contrast the north and east of the island can be plagued by northerly winds and with the north of the island just tips the Arctic circle making the island very definitely split in temperature between mild and cold.

Temperatures in Ireland will be colder than parts of south and west Iceland this week as Iceland will see returning maritime air from the North Atlantic.
Iceland is/was covered in glaciers and where it get's it name as it was once covered the majority of the land. This land was created from plate faultlines converging on one point of the north Atlantic.

Been there twice ,Nov 00 / Mar 01 , it is some country no doubt , one would need a bank loan for a 'night on the town' and you would definately be looking at lottery win to afford a meal in most restarunts , the cost of living was crazy there.

The people are very much nordic in their attitude to europeans , ie polite and friendly enough , but downtown Reykjavik could be rough enough fri/sat nights .

As Snowbie pointed out the Gulf Stream has a moderating effect on most of the South/West of Iceland , though the lowest minimum ever recorded was app -33c in the NE, which is not such a frigid temp for a country of that latitude, though both times i was there the lake Tjorn in the center of Reykjavik was frozen over .

Was to several parts of interior and south of the Iceland during my time there , always 4x4 jeeps and in a convoy , the lowest temp i experienced was -17c and that was on the dashboard of a jeep so i don't know how accurate the reading was , in the meantime that reading was taken near Langjokull Glacier and there was no problem driving over the frozen lakes around there .

Danno

I remember watching a BBC weather report sometime in late summer/early autumn 1995 and they got 22c on the north coast of the island whilst the south coast was 12c, I remember the presenter talking about the fohn effect.

Big Tone

Is it Global Warming/Climate Change that "Ice"land ( a bit of a misnomer! and I still cant understand why Ireland wasn't called Greenland first, but thats the makings of another thread I'm sure) saw their highest temperatures in decades. But 64 years ago in 1944 the temperatures were just as high if not higher! Was this attributed to GW/CC?

The area of ice in the artic 2007/2008 actually increased over the previous year and there wasn't the same volume of retreating ice.

It'll be interesting to see what the stats for 2008/2009 will be, will we see another increase in ice covered land? It could be a new, unexpected, trend.

jdivision

Big Tone wrote: »

I still cant understand why Ireland wasn't called Greenland .

Greenland was intentionally called that in order to fool people into going there. Irish people were known in Iceland as West men, and Icelandic people are about 50% Irish, 50% Norwegian because the Vikings raided Ireland and took slaves to bring to Iceland with them. The Westman Islands off the coast of Iceland are named after the Irish

anyone read the article in New Scientist about earths climate 100 million years ago when the Arctic and Antarctic were almost subtropical?
I think we need to be more afraid of another ice age than a warmer earth

kerry1960

Taken in March 2000 in the high ground outside Reykjavik, note the front of the house is clear of snow , yes , hard to imagne it but someone lives here , a lot of the older buildings around Iceland constructed of timber or whatever and then covered with corrugated iron ,even some of the more upmarket shops in Reykjavik are done like this and they look like sheds.

Also note center/right of picture ,some people with jeeps , i was part of a group on a ' jeepsafari ' going to Langjokull Glacier that day but saw nothing after getting there , blizzard , a complete whiteout.

Speaking of jeeps the offroad ones they have there are something else ,they import them new from the States , strip em down and rebuild them for Icelandic conditions ,these motors usually have 5 or 6 litre engines and massive wheels , and they can go almost anywhere..........at a steady 5 to 7 mpg........:D