“Britain and Scandinavia are located in an area that has seen low temperatures. Otherwise, the northern hemisphere has been very hot this summer. Temperatures in July were some of the two to three warmest ones measured for 150 years. June was also warm the northern hemisphere,” Helge Drange, climate researcher and professor at Bergen’s Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, tells Aftenbladet.

Next summer may be different

He does not think this summer’s low temperatures in Norway indicate a new trend we have to acclimatise ourselves to here, however.

“I think that Western Europe having been so cold this year is a coincidence. We have had some northerly wind, which has given us below normal temperatures. Next summer may be quite different. This summer says little or nothing about the next one,” professor Drange declares, but with one small reservation.

“We still don’t know anything about the long-term trend. Global temperature and those in the northern hemisphere are on the way up, overall. However, temperatures vary from year to year, and some summers will be cool. Norway’s geographic position has been unfortunate this year, but this may soon change,” he concludes.

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