Orange Danger Warning Extended Until Wednesday: Southern and Eastern Norway Braces for Heavy Snowfall

The meteorologists extend the orange danger warning for snow that applies to parts of southern and eastern Norway. The warning now applies until Wednesday at 19:00.

May last until Thursday

State meteorologist Terje Alsvik Walløe says this to Nettavisen about the weather situation on Monday morning:

– In Southern and Eastern Norway, there is a combination of wind and snow. Without the wind, the situation would have been even more challenging. In Southern Norway, snowy weather is expected until Wednesday, possibly Thursday. The amount of snow is expected to remain stable, but this will be a longer episode compared to the situation in Eastern Norway. Those who live in Sørlandet must really be careful about driving if it is not necessary.

Walløe says the snowfall won’t let up anytime soon:

– There will be daily replenishment of snow over the next few days, and it will take some time to clean up, he says.

Already before New Year’s Eve, the meteorologists had issued yellow and orange danger warnings for parts of southern and eastern Norway. It is large amounts of snow that cause the meteorologists to warn. In some areas (orange warning), 50-100 centimeters have been forecast, in others 30-50 (orange) or 15-40 centimeters (yellow danger warning).

In the orange danger warning for Arendal and Kristiansand, among others, the meteorologists say this about the snow amounts:

“A lot of snow is still expected over the next few days. It can fall 20-40 cm in 24 hours, in smaller areas it can fall more.”

Arendal: Has set up crisis management

Sørlandet experienced the full amount of snow on Monday morning.

– Almost 70 cm of snow has fallen during the night, and more snow has been reported in the coming days. We have set up crisis management on Monday morning to ensure good handling of the situation, Arendal municipality writes on its website.

The municipality also states that they have extra plowing crews out working with the snow.

They encourage residents to stay at home and avoid going out unless necessary.

Check updated danger warnings at yr.no

Mayor: – Stay at home

Mayor of Arendal, Robert C. Nordli, tells Agderposten that around 600 of the residents of Arendal are without electricity, after a major power outage in Southern Norway last night.

– We are now prioritizing the plowing so that home nursing can get there, and that people can get to our institutions. That is our most important priority right now, he says.

His general appeal to the citizens is this:

– Stay at home. We have challenges with keeping the road open on certain stretches of road for various reasons.

The crisis team will have another meeting at 12 noon.

In Kristiansand, the bus company AKT reports challenges.

– Some lines have gone well, while others have not gone as well, says CEO of AKT, Siv Elisabeth Wiken to the newspaper KRS.

– We have to hope that it will get better, but it all depends on the weather in the future. We encourage people to follow the website and allow plenty of time, says the AKT director.

Lots of calls from angry residents

In Larvik in Vestfold municipality, the municipality’s hotline experienced many complaints about lack of plowing. The phone, which is automatically transferred to the fire and rescue service on the New Year’s weekend, received many inquiries from frustrated residents, emergency manager Tormod Rauan tells Østlands-Posten:

– Some are nice, others are rude. They are frustrated and grumpy, and drag things out a bit, he says and asks the residents to calm down. There is no point in complaining about a lack of plowing as the situation is now. All available resources have been deployed to remove the amounts of snow.

2024-01-01 09:42:46


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