Warmest May ever on Arctic islands

Not since December 2010 has Norway’s Meteorological Institute measured normal temperatures at its northernmost locations. It should still be freezing, below zero. Not so this May. Measurements at Longyearbyen airport on Svalbard could tell a story about global warming not seen before with a mean temperature of 1,8°C, which is 6°C above normal.

Also the other Norwegian Arctic islands experienced a warm May, the institute reports.

Bjørnøya in the Barents Sea was the warmest with a mean temperature of 3,7°C. That is 5,1°C above normal. Hopen was 5°C above normal, while Jan Mayen had 5,1°C warmer than normal for May.

Ny-Ålesund, further north on Spitsbergen, had a mean temperature of 1,6°C, which is 5,6°C above normal for the month.

On mainland Norway, temperatures in the last few days of May were warmer than most holliday resorts around the Mediterranean. Warmest was Etne outside Bergen with 32,7°C on May 30th. Mean temperature for Norway was 4,2 degrees above normal. Since mean values were registered first time in 1900, 2018 is by far the warmest ever measured the Meteorological Institute informs.