Church outing

Last thursday it was time for our traditional church outing in Kiruna. A really beatiful day, well over 10 degrees centigrade, but lots of snow still! It is melting fast, though, and today was the first rain for this year.

We spent a nice day outdoor however on thursday, making coffee and sausages over the open fire, and enjoying abundat sunshine.

Cold and beautiful

Both December and January have been extremely warm here, about 8 degrees warmer than normal. Climate change is very noticeable here, with melting glaciers and climbing treelines in our mountains. We see it happen and it disturbs us.
But this easter gives us traditional easter weather, as beautiful as anyone could wish. Blue sky, no wind almost, loads of snow and between 5 and 10 below zero here on Luossavárri mountain where we live. In the valleys of the Torne and Kalix River, even at the airport which is situated much lower, it is probably colder than so. The other night the village of Nikkaluokta, 60 kms from here, in the Kalix River valley, had 41 degrees (Celsius) below. Which was a new extreme - they have never experienced that low this late in the winter since measurements started! That is 50 degrees below the extreme they had one day in december - when they had 11 above zero, the first time ever they had above zero in december!

We don't have that cold. We have the perfect circumstances for skiing, downhill or cross-country. With the slopes so nearby that you could walk if it not were for the heavy skiing shoes, we have been skiing both yesterday after church and the day before, and will be today. A strange thought that we will be able to swim in the sea next week when we are in Spain...

Winter came to Kiruna

Today, 30 August, winter came. We woke up with this sight! A few centimetres of snow! Since autumn hardly has started, we reckon that the snow will melt soon, and we will enjoy a nice autumn before the snow will cover everything permanently. The picture below was taken yesterday!