STOCKHOLM - Sweden’s average temperature has risen nearly 2 deg C since the late 1800s and while precipitation has increased, the snow cover lasts two weeks less, a new report on the Nordic country’s climate change said on Tuesday.
According to the report from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) the average temperature in the country was 1.9 deg C higher in the period from 1991 to 2020 compared to the period between 1861 and 1890.
SMHI noted that the observed change was roughly double that of the change in global average temperatures for the same period.
The weather agency said it had not previously conducted an analysis as extensive, where it looked at as many different indicators of climate change, before.
“The result of the analysis clearly show that Sweden’s climate has changed,” said Dr Semjon Schimanke, climatologist and project leader at SMHI.
“The warmer climate with more precipitation in Sweden closely follows the observed global warming that is a result of human climate influence,” added SMHI’s professor of climatology Erik Kjellstromat.
Not all of the observation series covered the same timeframe, the weather agency said and noted that precipitation had increased since 1930, from about 600mm to almost 700mm from the year 2000 and forward.
However, the snow cover during winter around the country had decreased by 16 days on average for the period between 1991 and 2020 compared to the period between 1961 and 1990.
SMHI stressed that the observations were the averages over a year, and said the picture became more complex as when “investigating smaller regions or different seasons”.
“For instance, the increase of precipitation is mainly related to enhanced precipitation during autumn and winter whereas there are no obvious trends in spring and summer,” SMHI said, adding that “changes in extremes are generally harder to identify”.
The report comes as the UN climate summit COP27 wrapped up in Egypt over the weekend.
While the summit resulted in a landmark deal on funding to help vulnerable countries cope with climate impacts, it also led to criticism and frustration over a failure to be more ambitious on cutting emissions. AFP
