A warning has been issued of severe weather in the Westfjords on Friday evening, and on Saturday 29th December in the whole country, especially in the north. People are advised against travelling in the northern half of the country. There is a risk of snow avalanches.

The northern lights are frequently seen in Iceland. IMO now provides combined information on aurora activity, cloud cover, sunlight and moonlight, as aurora forecasts. Daylight obscures the northern lights. Moonlight reduces their visibility but illuminates the landscape. Clouds often obscure the northen lights completely. Therefore, users should make their choice carefully. Travelling within Iceland according to the combined forecast increases the likelihood of a memorable event.

A session of the World Meteorological Congress 29-31 October approved the governance structure and implementation plan for the Global Framework for Climate Services. Accelerating climate change is leading to more climate and weather extremes – a trend expected to increase in the future, with in particular more destructive flooding, severe droughts, heat waves and heavy rainfall in many parts of the world. The initial focus will be on improved service delivery for disaster risk reduction, health, water management, agriculture and food security.

IMO warns that  there are gale to storm winds in the West fjords and along the north coast. These winds may have moved over the southwest and the southeast with windgusts over 40 m/s on the leeside of mountains and the glaciers. Travellers are advised to closely monitor road and weather conditions and advisories. Decreasing winds and precipitation late Friday night, first in the West fjords but not until late Saturday in the east.

Hazardous weather is forecasted for the next few days. Road conditions will be poor in the north during this time and travellers are advised to not travel until the weather has decreased. Wave heights by the north shore will increase, and are forecasted to be up to 12 meters north and east of the country. People are encouraged to secure boats and to note that icing can accumulate on boats very fast in these conditions. Farmers are encouraged to see to the security of livestock.

Tuesday 30th October increasing northerly winds with snow and decreased visibility will be prevalent in the northern part of the country. Wind velocities will be on average 12-20 m/s. Road conditions can become very bad within short time in these conditions. Strong gusts of wind are expected south of Vatnajökull glacier from tomorrow afternoon until Saturday. This weather is expected to last for several days. The southern half of the country will mostly stay dry but winds will be strong.

Seismic activity at Eyjafjarðaráll is continuing although it has slightly decreased since yestarday evening. Large earthquakes can still be expected in the area.

The earthquake sequence which started last Saturday offshore North Iceland continues. It is neither possible to estimate how long this activity will be ongoing, nor can further earthquakes of M4 be excluded. These earthquakes are purely tectonic and no signs of volcanic activity have been observed.

An earthquake sequence at the southern end of the Eyjafjarðaráll graben has been ongoing since Saturday 20 October. The source region of the events is slightly southwest of the seismic sequence observed last September. Eyjafjarðaráll is a graben system between the Húsavík Flatey Fault and the southern end of Kolbeinsey ridge. Seismicity in this area is quite common, however the activity observed during the weekend is above the average. The present activity is purely tectonic.

An earthquake sequence occurred between 14 - 21 September 2012 offshore North Iceland, at the southern Eyjafjarðaráll graben. The present activity occurred in the transition zone between the graben and the Húsavík fault. It is impossible to predict if and how long the present sequence will continue. Although the activity calmed down, further events of around M4 and potentially above can not be excluded.

A weather radar for East Iceland was placed at Teigsbjarg, near Egilsstaðir, earlier this year. The trial period is over and the radar was formally taken into use 12.09.2012 by Árni Snorrason, Dir. General of IMO. The radar was open to the public that day and IMO‘s specialists explained its function and the products. Guests were invited for lunch at Skriðuklaustur, where a short talk was given.

Technicians have done a certain repair work for IMO‘s data bases which are now receiving information and observations as usual. The presentation should be back to normal, both for weather forecasts and other data. Full interaction is, however, not guaranteed and our readers will be kept well informed if any flaws occur.

A technical problem is affecting the production of weather forecasts at the moment. Since midnight, data bases are not receiving information and observations as usual. Repair work is being done. Another news will be issued as soon as the presentation is back to normal.

A remarkably deep low developed to the southwest of Iceland on 19 and 20 July 2012. According to the analysis of the ECMWF the central pressure in the low dropped to 966 hPa. This is amongst the lowest values ever observed in the North Atlantic in July.

Saturday afternoon and evening, strong southeast- and easterly winds are expected in southern and western Iceland with heavy rain. Travellers are warned that tents and light trailers can become loose in these conditions. Travellers near the coast are also advised to be aware of high tide this Saturday evening.

The webpage Safetravel is run by ICE-SAR and is part of a bigger project in which a number of companies, public institutions and individuals combine their efforts to prevent accidents in travelling and tourism in Iceland. The newest option is SOS Iceland, an app which is available for both Android and iPhone.

Global climate change, its expression and impacts on natural systems in Iceland is one of the research topics at IMO. Professor Michael E. Mann, Director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Pennsylvania, gave a lecture at the University of Iceland on climate research and the extent to which public discussion is based on the most relevant research.

Supporting structures stopped most of an avalanche which was released from a hillside above the health care centre of a town in north Iceland in March 2012. They are the most frequently used protection measure against snow avalanches for settlements in the Alps but have not been much used in Iceland until recently. Further installations are planned in the next 5-10 years.

Supporting structures stopped most of an avalanche which was released from a hillside above the health care centre of a town in north Iceland in March 2012. Such structures have been installed in two other towns in recent years. They are the most frequently used protection measure against snow avalanches for settlements in the Alps but have not been much used in Iceland until recently. Further installations of supporting structures are planned in the next 5-10 years.

On 29 March 2012 the maximum temperature at the station Kvísker in South-East Iceland near the famed Jökulsárlón lagoon soared to 20.5°C.

In recent years, Arctic nations have consolidated their cooperation in the fields of meteorology and Arctic hydrology, to increase monitoring and research on Arctic warming and into various components of the Arctic Hydrological Cycle. The Icelandic Meteorological Office participates in The Arctic HYCOS.

The Second Nordic International Conference on Climate Change Adaptation is to be held in Helsinki on 29-31 August 2012. Notice that the abstrac submission has been extended to Friday 30 March 2012.

A workshop on Measurements and simulation of volcanic ash for civil aviation will be held in Reykjavík Jan 17th 2012 at Orkugarður, Grensásvegi 9.