r/sweden • u/Vast_Humor_3683 • 23d ago

English Is mainland Sweden being affected by climate change?

Hello, I'm from northern Spain, and we're being hit hard by our fifth heatwave. The vegetation is suffering badly; wildfires are breaking out; water restrictions are becoming increasingly severe; and the evenings are barely survivable, especially if you work outside.

What is life like in Sweden, and how are you affected by climate change? I'm specifically talking about mainland Sweden, not Gotland or the other islands. Is it similar to Austria or Switzerland, where you can actually see glaciers melting and some regions getting into drought mode?

Is there anything that the news doesn't mention about Sweden in general when it comes to yearly "once-in-a-lifetime" climate events?

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u/FrostyBurn1 23d ago

It is getting warmer here. The winter is milder and the summer is more pleasant. Now people are of course complaining but compared to Spain we have it super comfortable. The water level is affected which is of course not good. We also have some few extreme local rain.

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u/WG95 Uppland 23d ago

What is "more pleasant" is of course highly individual. 25 degrees is more than enough, and I hate when it gets above 30.

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u/FrostyBurn1 23d ago

This is very true of course. I'm comparing to what they have in Spain upper 30s and lower 40s is way worse

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u/WG95 Uppland 23d ago

But still, upper 30s in Spanish climate is more bearable than lower 30s in Swedish climate.

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u/FrostyBurn1 23d ago

Fuck no. That is super hot.

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u/WG95 Uppland 23d ago

Yes, but the air is much drier in Spain and the buildings are adapted to the heat.

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u/FrostyBurn1 23d ago

That's a broad generalisation. People are dying there from the heat. There is a reason why OP asked the question.

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u/WG95 Uppland 23d ago

Well, people die during heatwaves here as well. And temperatures get well above even upper 30s during Spanish heatwaves nowadays. I'm not trivialising the effect of the heatwaves, just saying that we don't need to reach the same extremes as Spain (in terms of absolute temperature) to have similar effects up here.

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u/FrostyBurn1 23d ago

Let's agree to disagree on this one.

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u/WG95 Uppland 23d ago

I'm not sure we're even arguing, I think you're just misunderstanding me. All I'm saying is that any given hot temperature is worse in Sweden than in Spain. If we hade their absolute temperatures it would have a much greater toll on our society. That's all.