Hjalteyri

This breeding season for ptarmigans has been the fourth worst on record in northern Iceland, due in part to a June snowstorm.

There is considerable damage to a house on Aðalgatu in Siglufjörður after the roof came off in a storm last night. Ólöf Rún Erlendsdóttir, reporter, and Sölvi Andrason, cameraman, are in Siglufjörður and sent pictures of the damage.

Anglers caught dozens of humpback salmon in Eyjafjarðará river yesterday, RÚV reports. Humpack salmon are spreading in Iceland and threatening local fish species in Icelandic rivers.

Twenty people were rescued from a chairlift at the Hlíðarfjall ski area outside Akureyri. The lift stalled when the wire was blown off its spool by a strong blast of wind.

Kale is sprouting even though it's mid-November.  Eucalyptus, rock rose, and Lenten roses don’t seem to be in the mood for winter, as they still wear their summer colors of green and red. It has been warm over almost all of the country, and never in the history of the capital has been a hotter November than this year. 

Authorities state that although landslides are not common in this area, avalanches are. An approximately 50 to 70m stretch of road is affected, covered in about one metre of mud and debris.

The death of one of the bottlenose whales that have been entertaining residents and visitors in Akureyri was confirmed this weekend.

Yet another weather record has been broken this summer, as this August was the warmest since records began in Akureyri. There are signs that weather patterns will change in the middle of next week.

This July was the warmest on record in nearly all of North and East Iceland. The average temperature was above 14°C at several weather stations, and no average monthly temperature in Iceland is ever known to have been higher.

According to police sources, flow in the region’s swollen rivers dropped slightly overnight, but that this is likely explained because the air temperature usually drops overnight. Flow is expected to increase again today.

The temperature in Akureyri last night dropped to -1°C, the coldest night this late in June since 1978—or 43 years ago.

The winter so far has seen very little snow in Iceland. December snowfall was well below average in both Reykjavík and Akureyri. Meteorologist Elín Björk Jónasdóttir says it has been one of the least white winters in living memory so far.

No one was on the grounds when the avalanche occurred early this morning, though staff noticed it when they arrived in the area, located in Skarðsdalur valley. The ski lodge was displaced from its foundation by the avalanche.

The Department of Civil Protection has raised the level of alert from Uncertain to Dangerous, due to a risk of avalanches. This morning it was found that an avalanche had fallen on the Skarðsdalur Ski area. Nine houses in Siglufjörður will be evacuated.

Sveinbjörn Þór Sigurðsson of Búvellir farm in Aðaldalur, North Iceland says 80-90% of his hay fields were frozen in spring, and dry weather exacerbated the situation.

There are currently fewer minke whales and more humpbacks in Icelandic waters than usual for the time of year, and some appear to be skipping the southward migration altogether.

Whale watchers in Eyjafjörður, North Iceland, witnessed something new and exciting during a tour last weekend. A marine biologist describes the hunting behaviour as unique and something never before seen around Iceland.

The severe storm that hit Iceland last week had a major impact on farmers—largely because of power cuts and closed roads. Dairy farmers could not milk their cows during power cuts, and they could not refrigerate the milk that had been collected before the power went off. MS Iceland Dairies received 43,000 fewer litres of milk from farms last week than the week before.

Grain harvests in North Iceland this autumn do not look encouraging, farmers say. A frost in late August damaged the corn and wet weather in the autumn has delayed harvests.

According to the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, pollen levels are considerably above the average for this time of year, causing considerable irritation for those with pollen allergies.