Sweden recorded some of their coldest temperatures of the winter for a second day in a row Wednesday when thermometers plummeted as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit).

The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute reported temperatures below minus 40 C and 30 C (minus 22 F) at several locations Wednesday. 

In Kvikkjokk-Årrenjarka in the northernmost Lapland mountain, the mercury dropped to minus 43.6 C (minus 46.5 F), the coldest temperature in the country in January since 1999, Sweden’s TT news agency reported.

Nikkaluokta, a small village inhabited by indigenous Sami people in northern Sweden, recorded a temperature of minus 41.6 C (minus 42.8 F) early Tuesday, the meteorology department said. It added it was not unusual for temperatures to dip below minus 40 C in Nikkaluokta.

In the northeastern city of Umea, temperatures dropped to minus 30.7 C (minus 23.3 F), the lowest level in 12 years. All passenger trains to the north of Umea were suspended until Thursday given risks of the frigid cold spell, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported.

The Swedish metereological institute said that a mass of high pressure with cold air was blanketing the northeast of Sweden and the north of Finland, contributing to the cold wave.

“It’s the coldest temperature we have had so far this winter, and it will continue to be quite cold weather in the north,” SVT meteorologist Nils Holmqvist said. 

In February 2001, Sweden recorded the coldest temperature this century in Storbo, when temperatures plummeted to -44 C (-47.2 F).

Frigid temperatures disrupt road and rail traffic

In neighboring Finland, temperatures also plummeted to the low double-digits in many parts, with temperatures ranging between minus 20 and minus 30 C (minus 4 to minus 22 F) in most parts of the country, the local metereological institute reported Tuesday.

In parts of central and northern Finland, temperatures were forecast to drop to minus 40 degrees in the next days. 

Cold and snow has disrupted tranportation throughout the region, including in Norway, where a major highway in the south was closed and ferry lines suspended operations. Swedish train operations said the cold spell could cause substantial problems for rail traffic in the Arctic north.

Police across most of Denmark urged motorists on Wednesday to avoid unnecessary trips as wind and snow battered the northern and western parts of the country. However, southern Denmark was battling flooding caused by heavy rain.

rm/nm (AP, dpa)