August: rain and cool temperatures
August was very rainy in many places in Iceland. Photo: Rax
Reykjavik was slightly cooler than average this August, while the West Fjords were considerably colder than average. Almost everywhere saw more rain than usual.
These are some of the findings of the Icelandic Met Office from the weather data collected for last month.
The average temperature in Reykjavik was 11.3°C (52.3°F), 0.8°C lower than the average over the last ten years. North-western areas of Iceland fared much worse, with temperatures up to 2°C lower.
While South Iceland saw average rainfall, many other parts of the country were wetter than usual – and some rainfall records were beaten.
Reykjavik saw 66.2 mm of rain in August – 7% above the average for the period 1961-90. Iceland’s second city, Akureyri (North Iceland), saw 79.4 mm, more than double their average and the highest level since 1992.
Summer weather?
Icelandic meteorologist Trausti Jónsson has put together a definition of ‘summer weather’ in Iceland.
Measurements are taken at noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm. A given day can be deemed a ‘summer day’ is the following weather conditions obtain:
- No rain at three (at least) of the four times.
- Rainfall between 9am and 6pm under 2 mm.
- A break in cloud at one (at least) of the four times.
- Average temperature over the four times of 13.1°C or a temperature of over 15°C at 6pm.
According to this definition, Reykjavik has had 26 ‘summer days’ this year, the first on 26 June. This is double the average for the period 1961-90.
Akureyri, however, has not fared so well. The northern city has enjoyed just fifteen summer days this year – the lowest amount since records began in 1949. This could change in September, however. More summer days could see 2015 beat 1979, when sixteen summer days were registered.
