STOCKHOLM, Jan 3, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Sweden on Wednesday recorded its coldest 
January night in 25 years, with a reading of minus 43.6 degrees Celsius in 
the far north as a cold snap hit the Nordics.

"To put that into perspective, that is the lowest January temperature in 
Sweden since 1999," Mattias Lind, meteorologist at Sweden's national weather 
agency SMHI, told AFP.

In January 1999, a temperature of minus 49 degrees Celsius (minus 56.2 
Fahrenheit) was recorded in Sweden, which tied the record set in 1951.

Lind said that Wednesday's measurement was made at the Kvikkjokk-Arrenjarka 
station in Sweden's far north.

"It is the lowest temperature that has been recorded in this specific spot 
since measurements began" in 1888, he said.

Several other stations recorded temperatures of below minus 40C in Sweden's 
north.

While residents of the region are used to seeing freezing temperatures, the 
recent cold snap has forced local bus operators to suspend services, and 
train operator Vy said Tuesday that it had cancelled all trains north of the 
city of Umea for several days.

Trains were also disrupted in neighbouring Finland, where a seasonal record 
of minus 38.7 Celsius was recorded Tuesday evening in the northern Lapland 
region.

Several instances of frozen or burst water pipes were also reported, and 
Finnish broadcaster YLE said around 300 people in the city of Tampere were 
left without running water on Tuesday.

The cold front is expected to move south over the next few days, with the 
Finnish capital Helsinki already seeing temperatures falling to minus 15C on 
Wednesday.

But despite colder temperatures being expected tomorrow, some of the 
capital's residents were unfazed by the prospect.

"I'm really loving it. It's a mindset thing I guess," Katja, a woman in 
Helsinki, told AFP on Wednesday.

"It's all about the clothing," she said, wearing a thick black winter jacket 
with the hood pulled over her head.

"Yeah, just a lot of clothes and the attitude -- Like it's going to be cold 
but it's beautiful," her friend Nita agreed as snow fell.

The extreme cold is also expected to hit Norway towards the end of the week, 
with temperatures in Oslo potentially falling to minus 27C this weekend, 
according to the national weather service.

Heavy snowfall has already impacted the south of the country with school 
closures and cancelled flights.