Many people ask about the weather in Sweden, conjuring images of sunny Midsummer parties and winters piled with snow. Much of the long Nordic country lies around 60° north latitude, which can be compared to the state of Alaska, but Sweden has a milder climate than most other northern countries due to the influence of the Gulf Stream that flows off Norway’s west coast.

This year seems to be redefining “mild,” with very summery weather expected to continue throughout Sweden. Göteborg saw over 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit) on May 14, and even high up north in the Norrland province, temperatures reached summer levels of over 26 degrees C. After a long and cold winter, Sweden passed quickly through an unusually short spring and landed in summer already in May. And the extreme weather may be here to stay.

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“Unfortunately, what we are looking at now fits into the overall trends,” says environmental and climate researcher Johanna Alkan Olsson at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Research at Lund University, warning that “the much enjoyed heat can lead to water shortages.”