The climate in Sweden

Climate zone: The northern part of Sweden is located in the cold polar zone of the Arctic. The southern areas are in the temperate climate zone.

The climate in Sweden is quite varied, but generally does not offer extreme climate conditions. It is cold and wet with some nice summer months. It won't be really warm up here and given to the water temperatures of 17 degrees maximum you will leave your bathing clothes at home. The warmest and rainiest part of the country is Skåne. The coldest is Norrbotten. Due to the warmer temperatures, the best time for traveling is from May to September. Less attractive are the cold months from November to March.

Temperature records of the last 74 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1949 to January 2023 was reported by the Karlstad weather station. In June 1999, the record temperature of 39.9 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 26 weather stations in Sweden , was recorded in 2006 with an average temperature of 16.2 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every four to six hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 13.4 degrees Celsius. The average maximum daily temperature at that time was 20.8 °C.

The coldest day in these 74 years was reported by the Kvikkjokk Arrenjarka weather station. Here the temperature dropped to -51.8 °C in February 2001. Kvikkjokk Arrenjarka lies at an altitude of 315 meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1966 with an average temperature of -10.5 °C. In Sweden, it is usual to have about 5.9 degrees more at -4.6 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in December 1966. With 9.0 mm per day, the Harnosand weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 74 years. Incidentally, the region with the most rainfall for the whole year is around Goteborg. The driest region is near Karesuando.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1986 - 2022

In contrast to single record values, long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. An average value would give a distorted result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and distorts the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 3 measuring points in order to have comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1986 to 2022, there were only these 3 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Visby, Karlstad, Joenkoeping). From these weather reports, we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was July 2018 at 20.3 °C. January 1987 was the coldest month with an average temperature of -10.2 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 6.3 °C in the years after 1986 and about 7.9 °C in the last years before 2022. So in less than 37 years, it has increased by about 1.6 °C. This trend only applies to the selected 3 weather stations in Sweden. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of global warming has been provided separately.

Data basis and methodology

The data from the individual measuring stations are based on the archives of the German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements. In order to determine a representative national average, average values were first calculated for each part of the country, which were then summarized at the national level. Thus, if a disproportionate number of weather stations are located in a small area, their number does not affect the national average.