A southerly storm or violent storm is expected later today and tomorrow, with very strong wind gusts, widely 35 – 45 m/s and especially near mountains, but locally exceeding 50 m/s. Considerable or heavy rain is expected in the south and the west regions of the country. More details can be found here.

The year 2024 was remarkably cold compared to temperatures of this century. The national average temperature was 0.8 degrees below the 1991 to 2020 mean, and it was the coldest year since 1998. Lowest relative temperature was inland in the North, while it was warmer along the southern coast. The summer was wet across the entire country, but other months of the year were relatively dry. Overall, the year was drier than average in the eastern, southern, and southwestern parts of the country, but wetter than average in the North and West, which experienced heavy rain during summer. The sea level pressure was unusually low from June through August, and the summer was characterized by frequent low-pressure system passage and unfavourable weather. During other seasons, the weather was relatively calm, and annual mean seal level pressure and wind speed were around average.

The first phase of the Icelandic Meteorological Office's (IMO) new website was launched today. This marks the beginning of a major project aimed at renewing both the website and its entire technical infrastructure.

The new weather forecast website is available at https://gottvedur.is/en/. While the site is still in development, once the renewal of the current website is complete, the new weather pages will be moved to the domain vedur.is.

Updated 17. January 14:00 UTC

Seismic activity continues to increase near Grjótárvatn. So far in January, nearly 100 earthquakes above M1.0 have been recorded. This is comparable to the total number of earthquakes in December 2024, which was the highest monthly count ever recorded in the area.

A strong earthquake swarm began shortly after 6:00 UTC today in the northwestern part of the Bárðarbunga caldera. Approximately 130 earthquakes have been recorded since the swarm began, with the largest reaching magnitude 5.1 at 8:05 UTC.

Additionally, 17 other earthquakes with a magnitude of 3 or higher were detected, including at least two measuring magnitude 4 or above. These estimates may change as analysis of the events is ongoing.

In recent days, a gradual increase in seismic tremor has been recorded on the Grímsfjall seismometer, suggesting that a glacial outburst flood has begun from Grímsvötn. These floods emerge from the base of Skeiðarárjökull glacier, flowing into the Gígjukvísl river. Typically, these glacial outburst floods increase gradually, and it can take a few days for the first signs of floodwater to be detected at the hydrological station in Gígjukvísl river and an additional few days before peak discharge is reached. With precipitation in southeast Iceland in the past days, and more expected in the coming days, the identification of the initial signs of the flood In Gígjukvísl could prove to be challenging.