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Norway sees freak June snowfall

The Local Norway
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Norway sees freak June snowfall
Jimi Bradshaw from Florida plays with snow for the first ever in Tromsø on Monday. Photo: Jan-Morten Bjørnbakk/NTB scanpix

A blast of ice-cold wind from the North Pole is sending temperatures plummeting across northern Norway, with the city of Tromsø on Monday seeing June snowfall for the first time in living memory.

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"There have been both sleet and snow showers tonight, and people have even observed snow settling on the ground," Trond Lien, a local meteorologist, told the Tromsø-based Nordlys newspaper. "This is very rare, and I cannot remember the last time it snowed on June 16. It must be a long time ago." 
 
He said he had found reports indicating snowfall in the city during July a century previously, but had yet to find any record of snow in June. 
 
Odd Arne Thomassen, a professional driver, told NRK that he had encountered roughly four inches of snow when driving over Kvænangsfjellet in North Troms on Monday morning. 
 
"It's not so bad that I had to put on chains, but there was about four centimetres of snow on top," he said. 
 
According to Yr.no, the weather forecasting joint venture between NRK and Norway's Meteorological Institute, the snowfall will not be limited to the north of the country, and is likely to also fall on high-lying areas of southern and western Norway, even though Oslo is enjoying sunshine and balmy temperatures above 20 degrees centigrade. 
 
See in the chart below: 
 
 
 
 
Robin Mortensen, a reporter for Norway's NRK channel based in Alta, posted this video of the freak summer snowfall. 
 

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