A heatwave in Iceland
New absolute maximum temperature record in Reykjavík
During the the last week of July, Iceland experienced a rare heatwave. It culminated on 30 July, when new records were set. The maximum temperature in Reykjavík reached 25.7°C on the standard manned station outside the IMO offices, breaking the former record by 0.8°C. This is, indeed, rare as measurements in Reykjavík go back to the 1870s, and usually there are decades between temperatures above 23°C.
The last 10 years have been unusual in this respect. At the automatic station at the same site the maximum temperature was 26.4°C - also a record. Just outside town an automatic station at Skrauthólar recorded 28.4°C.
A new absolute record for the whole country was also set on the same day, when the maximum at Þingvellir (about 40 km east of Reykjavík) reached 29.7°C. This is the highest temperature measured at a standard automatic station in Iceland. However, automatic measurements throughout the country have only been made routinely since about 1995. The absolute maximum at a manned station is 30.5°C, measured in 1939 at Teigarhorn in the East.
