Akureyri

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

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.

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.

The Common Rock Crab has begun to grow rapidly in number around Icelandic shores. It was first seen in Hvalfjörður, West Iceland, in the year 2006. This summer, it has reached Eyjafjörður in North Iceland.

Visitors to Eyjafjörður fjord in North Iceland could be lucky enough to meet with the spectacle of up to 20 humpback whales currently sojourning there.