Iceland summer 2024 - wet and cold and rainy

This summer, at least here in South Iceland, wasn't particularly good, at least from a weather perspective.

Cold and wet

I just read in the newspaper that the highest temperature recorded in Reykjavík this summer was only 63,3 °F resp. 17.4 °C - this temperature was recorded in the capital on July 15th and August 3rd.

The summer in Reykjavík was not only relatively cold, but also wet above average - the rainfall in July was 80% above the average for the years 1991 to 2020. The last time there was as much rain as this year was in 1984 .

Counter-proposal: An ideal summer

I actually imagine the ideal summer to be a little different, with more sun, a little more warmth and, above all, several nice days in a row.

Yes, this year there was always a nice day, or at least a few nice hours - as soon as we could, we took advantage of the good weather and ate on the terrace, enjoyed an ice cream in the sun or even an iced coffee ( for me with a little dash of licorice syrup, I love it!).

But several dry days in a row were rare for us this year.

We actually wanted to paint our terrace again this summer, but after all the snow last winter we really needed it. But I can't paint when it rains - well, I can, but it doesn't help because the paint or oil comes off straight away when it rains.

In one day my husband managed to paint at least half of the terrace - by the time half of it was dry and we could put the furniture back down, the dry weather was over again, unfortunately it wasn't possible to continue painting the next day...

The last onset of winter was at the beginning of June this year, when there was plenty of fresh snow in the north and east and roads were closed for days. In our south there was only a heavy storm and a bit of snow...

And throughout the rest of the summer there was one weather warning after the next, with repeated heavy rain, storms and the risk of landslides.

There is also another (yellow) weather warning for tomorrow and the day after (August 30th/31st). The meteorologists are expecting heavy rain in the west and in the Westfjords, combined with the risk of landslides , because everything is simply too wet and the earth with it is also too heavy. Throughout the summer there have been landslides, buried roads and even damaged houses in various parts of the country - everything was simply too wet.

The roads are and were sometimes difficult to pass; especially in the highlands, the rivers carry so much water that many drivers got stuck in their vehicles while fording.

At the weekend a friend wanted to go to Kerlingarfjöll - but she failed a few kilometers from the destination because there had been so much snowfall the night before that the road was completely impassable - and that in August !

This year summer for us apparently only lasted from mid-June to mid-August - and then it was often wet, rainy and cold and windy too.

Let's see if autumn delivers what summer didn't promise...

Winter 2023/24

[Translated from here]