SVT's meteorologist: "January has been extreme"

In several parts of the country, new heat records were set during January, especially in the southern parts of the country.

- It has been substantial, the temperature deviation has been between 5-10 degrees, says Per Stenborg, meteorologist at SVT.

It was hottest in Småland's Oskarshamn, where the thermometer showed 12.1 degrees on January 15 - the highest January temperature measured in Sweden, according to SMHI.

- January 15 was very mild and then several local records were set for the highest measured temperature, says Per Stenborg.

Should cold air come in the near future, however, it can be a winter that we are more used to.

- The weather year has not really turned yet, that is, the sun has not risen so high yet, says Per Stenborg.

But right now it doesn't look that cold in the near future. And the further into February we come, the harder it will be for winter to establish itself.

- The sea water is not cooled down, neither is the ground and the air. Snow that falls can therefore melt both from the top and from the bottom, says Per Stenborg.

The weather trend in recent decades indicates that the winter in Sweden is changing.

- Statistically, you see that the snow season is both shorter and that we have less snow depth when it comes to snow, says Per Stenborg.

From Mälardalen downwards you can therefore start to get used to the fact that January will mean bare ground.

- All January months in the future will not look like this, but it will become more and more common, says Per Stenborg.

Oskarshamn also set a record for the highest daily average temperature. 10.6 degrees in January, which is what SMHI defines as a summer temperature.

- When we go from spring to summer, the definition of the daily average temperature is over 10 degrees. The same applies when we go from summer to autumn, that it should be lower then. Autumn to winter, and winter to spring then apply zero-degree as the definition for the seasons.