Freezing Weather Hits Scandinavia
4th January 2024
Last modified on January 7th, 2024
A mother and child died in an avalanche in Finland with the other Nordic countries gripped by an Arctic blast.
Norway, Finland and Sweden have seen plummeting temperatures and heavy snow in places.
A mother and her 12-year old son child lost their lives in an avalanche in Finland while skiing at Pallastunturi in northwestern Finnish Lapland.
They were from the small town of Korsnäs in Ostrobothnia.
The temperature in the area was -23 degrees Celsius at the time of the avalanche.
“There was an avalanche in the area, the catchment area of which is very wide. There is a lot of snow at the search site, and the snow is packed very tightly,” said Inspector Kirsi Huhtamäki of the Lapland Police Department.
The woman, who has not been named, was found on Tuesday at 10pm local time.
The child was found nearby at around 11.30am on Thursday.
They were heading for a local hotel after spending several days on a self-guided ski hike in the nearby Pallastunturi area,
The area has seen large amounts of snow and rescuers described conditions as some of the worst they had experienced with very high winds.
Norway has also seen heavy snow and falling temperatures.
Ski resorts are reaping the benefits, but it is bitterly cold.
The Norwegian Automobile Federation said electric cars could lose as much as 36% of their range in temperatures of 0C to -10C.
PlanetSKI was skiing in Norway last month.
We were on the inaugural Crystal charter flight to Oslo.
Norefjell, Norway. Image © PlanetSKI
In Sweden 1,000 cars were caught in a massive traffic jam as the main E22 road between Hörby and Kristianstad in southern Sweden became impassable.
People were forced to sleep in their cars overnight.
Hundreds of cars ground to a halt in snowdrifts.
“It is total chaos,” said police spokesperson Evelina Olsson.
“The problem is that it is snowing so heavily that the road is covered in snow just half an hour after ploughing,” she added.
Snow ploughs arrived on Wednesday evening and police and rescuers worked through the night to free people in the hundreds of trapped cars.
The army was called in to deliver supplies of food, water and blankets to the stranded motorists.
Temperatures in northern Sweden dropped below -40C.
The Kvikkjokk-Arrenjarka weather station in northern Sweden recorded its coldest night for 25 years on Tuesday night, with temperatures dropping to -43.6C.
Riksgransen, Sweden. Image © PlanetSKI
More to follow…
