June 2012 in Iceland

June was very sunny in both western and northern Iceland. The total number of bright sunshine hours at Akureyri and Reykjavík were close to the all-time records. The total number of sunshine hours at these two stations in May and June as a whole is unprecedented.

It was a very dry month in most of the country. Parts of the west and northwest experienced the driest June (or even any month) ever. Stykkishólmur has the longest precipitation series in the country, the precipitation observations began in October 1856. June 2012 is the driest month on record, with the total being only 0.6 mm of rain. In some places in the northwest the earth is very dry and the vegetation suffers. A few farms are almost without clean running water and depend on tanking for water consumption. However, the main part of the winter had much precipitation in the area so there is some snow still surviving in the mountains feeding rivers and groundwater.

June was warm in the south and west, amongst the ten warmest on record in the Reykjavík area, but in the north and east it the temperature was slightly below average as northeasterly winds were prevalent.

The highest temperature in June was registered at the stations Hella and Árnes in the southern lowland on the 2nd, 22.8 degrees C. The lowest temperature of the month was registered at Gagnheiði - a mountain in the east on the 5th, -5.7 deg C. The lowest temperature in inhabited areas was registered at Brú in the eastern inland, -4.4 deg C on the 13th. There were only ten nights entirely frost-free in the inhabited areas.

The full official report is available (in Icelandic) on the Icelandic Met. Office web.