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Sweden extends heavy snow warning – 'worse than expected'

Emma Löfgren
Emma Löfgren - [email protected]
Sweden extends heavy snow warning – 'worse than expected'
Bicycles in the snow north of Stockholm on Monday. Photo: Emma Löfgren/The Local

It was a cold day across most of Sweden, with traffic chaos in both Stockholm, Gothenburg and further afield. Read The Local's blog to see how the day unfolded.

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17:30 Thanks for today

The travel disruptions I listed at 16:03 in this blog, still apply. I'm rounding off The Local's live weather coverage now, but please feel free to get in touch if you have any weather-related stories or pictures to share. Our email is [email protected], but you can also reach us on Twitter or Facebook.

We will be back early tomorrow morning with more news from Sweden.

16:45 There's an old Swedish law about snow shovelling

Did you know there's an old Swedish law that means you, and not the council, could be responsible for clearing the snow off certain streets and pavements in your town? We've taken a closer look at this law, which dates back to 1868, in this article.

16:03 How does the weather affect my commute home?

Readers using public transport to get to and from work are probably wondering if and how you'll be able to get home this afternoon. Here's the traffic situation in Sweden's three biggest cities at the moment:

Stockholm

There are currently delays and cancellations on all commuter train lines (pendeltåg) in the capital due to the weather, according to SL. Trains between Märsta/Uppsala and Södertälje are not calling at Upplands Väsby at the moment because of a faulty railroad switch, so you will have to go to Rotebro and change there.

All trains are currently cancelled between Bro/Kallhäll and Älvsjö due to the weather. Commuters on line 44 are advised to consult the SL app or MyHeadsapp for alternative routes.

The Roslagsbanan line is also not running at the moment, again because of the weather. Replacement buses have been called in between Lindholmen-Kårsta, Lindholmen-Danderyd Hospital, Österskär-Danderyd and Östra station-Näsby Park.

If you're taking the bus today, expect delays no matter where you're going in the capital. And it's a similar situation for readers based in Uppsala. It's just one of those days.

Gothenburg

Public transport operators Västtrafik warn that there may be delays and cancellations on several routes in western Sweden. For up-to-date information, check their website here.

The roads are very snowy and slippery in western Sweden today, and more snow is predicted to fall so you really want to be careful out there. At around 3pm four cars were involved in a crash at the Friskväderstorget square in Gothenburg because of the icy road conditions. Thankfully no one was injured.

Malmö

Malmö in southern Sweden is not hit by the weather quite as much as the rest of the country, but if you're one of the thousands commuting across the Öresund bridge to and from Denmark it's worth noting that there may be delays due to maintenance work at Copenhagen central train station. This morning around half of the trains were cancelled at rush hour, according to public broadcaster SVT.

15:20 Snowy snaps

Traffic chaos notwithstanding, the snow is of course very pretty to look at. Here are a few snaps our Europe editor Catherine Edwards took in Stockholm today:

Have you taken any pictures of the snow? Send them to [email protected] or tag us on Instagram.

15:17 Spate of accidents in northern Sweden

We've had a number of traffic accidents today.

Just to give you an idea: on the E4 road near Skellefteå a car crashed into a truck from behind at around 10am. No one was injured, but no other cars were able to get past while the car was being salvaged. Just an hour later, another car and truck were involved in an accident, also on the E4 near Skellefteå. It appears the truck did not notice, because it kept driving despite the car being left in the middle of the road.

Just before 1pm two cars were involved in an accident on the E4 south of Skellefteå and one person was taken to hospital by ambulance. Their injuries were not immediately known.

Police have urged all drivers to take it easy on the road today and allow plenty of time for your journeys. You can check the Swedish Transport Administration's map of all disruptions for road traffic here.

13:30 Western Sweden on snow alert

Sweden's national weather agency SMHI has just extended its weather warning to include the inner Dalsland and Värmland regions. New forecasts suggest that the snowfall is going to be "a little bit worse than expected" in those areas, the TT news agency reports.

A class-one alert (the least serious on a scale from one to three) for heavy snow still applies to the following areas in western Sweden: Bohuslän and Gothenburg, Sjuhäradsbygden and Göta Älv, and Halland. Meteorologists are expecting 5-15 centimetres of snow or sleet to fall in those areas between Monday afternoon and the early hours of Tuesday.

13:13 Language essentials: How do you talk about the weather in Swedish?

If you are a regular reader of The Local, you will know that almost every day our Europe editor and in-house language whizz Catherine Edwards explains the meaning and history of a Swedish word. Today, she looks at the word oväder, which means bad weather but literally 'un-weather', and why the prefix 'o' is so common:

READ ALSO: How to talk about the weather with Swedes


A snow-covered roof in Sweden on Monday. Photo: Emma Löfgren/The Local

12:30 How to stay safe on icy roads

If you're driving today, be careful when you head out because I've been told it is quite slippery in many parts of Sweden, including areas that don't always get as much snow and ice as we've got here today.

All cars must be equipped with winter tyres between December 1st and March 31st if the weather conditions require it (and they currently do). If your car doesn't have them, or if they do not have a tread depth of at least three millimetres, you risk a fine of up to 1,200 kronor ($130).

You can read more about winter driving in Sweden in this article:

SWEDEN ESSENTIALS: The best winter driving tips to stay safe on the road


Even better than plain winter tyres are studded tyres. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

10:45 What's the weather like where you are?

Sweden is a very long country (more than 1,500 kilometres from north to south), which means that the weather in southern Sweden often does not have much in common with the north. But today nearly the entire country is blanketed in snow, apart from the southernmost area Skåne. In the northern Lapland mountains, the snow is more than a metre deep, according to weather agency SMHI's "snow map".

Here's what The Local's reporter Catherine Edwards' commute looked like this morning:

Do you have any pictures of the weather where you are? Send them to [email protected] or tag us on social media (here's our Twitter and Instagram) and we will try to share as many as possible in this live blog, whether you're skiing in -17C degrees in Jokkmokk or sipping a piña colada in a balmy 2C Malmö.

10:34 What's been cancelled?

There's been heavy disruption to train traffic so far today, especially in the Stockholm area where the weather conditions and three separate problems with various railroad switches in the region meant that many of the SL commuter trains (pendeltåg) were cancelled or delayed at rush hour this morning.

Train operator SJ has also urged people to check updated timetables before heading out. If you have already bought a ticket you can get your money back, or if you are able to travel on another day you can get your ticket changed, regardless of whether or not you have a rebookable ticket, it said. You can make changes to your journey by filling in your booking details and contact details here (in Swedish).

We'll try to keep you updated throughout the day with more travel information.


Commuters waiting for their train north of Stockholm on Monday morning. Photo: Emma Löfgren/The Local

Air traffic is also suffering knock-on delays today. Around 100 departures were cancelled over the weekend, and some affected passengers have still not been able to leave. Swedavia, which operates airports in Sweden, has however said that no further weather-related disruption to air travel is expected today.

10:20 The Local's live blog

Good morning and welcome to The Local's weather blog. It's chilly in all of Sweden today, ranging from 2C in Malmö to -20C in Kiruna, but even in many parts of central Sweden temperatures today are hovering between around -10C and -20C. Brrr! Here's our article from early this morning.

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