Previously, you could count on three months of real winter in Västerås.
But in recent years, the winters have barely been half as long.
– It is bad. The whole point of winter is that it will snow, says Elise Kahlin, 8.
Västerås can no longer count on three months of real winter.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT / TT NEWS AGENCY
The Advent candlesticks are lit in the windows of Herrgärdsskolan. But in the school yard, the snow shines with its absence. In Sweden, there have been 20 fewer days of snow on the ground in the last five winters, compared to the second half of the 1990s.
– It feels more like it’s autumn. I would describe it as cold, but also kind of boring, says Frank Wiman, who is in the fifth grade.
His father usually says that there was more snow in Västerås in the old days.
– I can understand the climate changes and such. But it feels a little unfair, he says.
Classmates Elise Kahlin and Greta Wiberg in second grade think the breaks would have been more fun with snow.
– Now that the sand is completely frozen, we can’t do anything, says Greta Wiberg.
– If you look out the window, there is no snow, it’s just slush. You can’t make lanterns out of slush, says Elise Kahlin.
Saving last year’s snow
In a parking lot outside Vedbobacken just outside Västerås, Ingrid Tillander, 50, picks up her cross-country skis. The temperature is seven plus degrees.
– I have lived in Västerås since I was a child. If I compare to then, I remember it as being much more snow when I was a kid.
She and other Western Austrians remember correctly. Between 1950 and 1999, SMHI’s weather station reported an average of 88 days with snow cover during the winters. In the last five years, it has been 37. The decline is among the highest for SMHI’s stations.
Vedbobacken has a cross-country track as well as a ski slope. Plant manager Martin Landås says he doesn’t notice that the winters have changed. However, the plant gains height for warmer winters. A new dam makes it possible to spray 400 cubic meters of snow per hour on cold days. The facility would not be able to do without it, and the snow that is saved over the summer, to be able to open on a certain date regardless of what the mercury is on.
– You can say that we have future-proofed the facility.
“Very affected”
Some who also depend on the winters are the open-air center Aktivt Uteliv, which sells and rents ski equipment and skates and organizes courses. Co-owner Mathias Bernövall says that the season has become shorter. It is important to be prepared when winter comes, because then the customers will quickly flock to us.
– We are affected a lot. Winter must almost start for our business to take off. You stand and stomp and wait, he says.
