A new highland maximum temperature record in Iceland

Iceland was favored by high temperatures during the last part of July. The maximum temperature in the country exceeded 20°C for 14 days in a row. The maximum length of a period with maximum above 20 degrees is 23 days (recorded last year 2012) but warm periods (in this particular sense) of two weeks or more are unusual.

The highest temperature in the country in July was recorded on the 21st, 26,4°C at the station Ásbyrgi in the Jökulsá national park in the northeast.

The headline news of the month, however, was the 25,9°C measured in Veiðivatnahraun in the southern highlands on 24 July. This is the highest temperature ever recorded in Iceland at a station above 400 m a.s.l. The Veiðivatnahraun station is located at the height of 647 m above sea level in a semi-desert area. At the time of observation the relative humidity was extremely low, only 13%.

The station has been in operation since 1993. There were practically no meteorological observations in the highland until the lone all-season manned station was established at Hveravellir in the central highlands in 1965 (640 m a.s.l.). After 1993 an increasingly dense network has been established, mainly at the effort of the Landsvirkjun (national power company).

The earlier maximum temperature registered in the highlands was only exceeded by 0,1°C, 25,8°C , measured at Upptyppingar - in the northeastern highlands.

A table of monthly temperature maximum records in the Icelandic highlands:

 

id	yr	mon	day	hr	max °C		station name
4019	2010	1	25	17	12,5		Upptyppingar
4019	2006	2	21	18	11,1		Upptyppingar
4019	2000	3	28	13	13,2		Upptyppingar
4019	2007	4	30	17	18,0		Upptyppingar
4019	2007	4	30	18	18,0		Upptyppingar
4019	2000	5	11	13	19,0		Upptyppingar
4019	2000	6	30	14	24,1		Upptyppingar
6657	2013	7	24	15	25,9		Veiðivatnahraun
4019	2004	8	13	18	25,8		Upptyppingar
5970	2009	9	13	9	19,8		Hallsteinsdalsvarp
5970	2009	9	13	11	19,8		Hallsteinsdalsvarp
5943	2003	10	26	13	17,4		Eyjabakkar
5943	1999	11	19	10	16,8		Eyjabakkar
5943	2010	12	15	1	12,5		Eyjabakkar

All of the station names are googleable.

This is an extract of the icelandic version:

http://trj.blog.is/blog/trj/entry/1307122/

hungurdiskar blog:

http://trj.blog.is/blog/trj/