Thunderstorms swept across Iceland Sunday as an unstable air mass moved across the country, bringing with it an unusually high number of lightning strikes, reports RÚV.
Residents in southern Iceland witnessed lightning throughout the day, with thunder and flashes becoming particularly noticeable in the southwest during the afternoon before moving eastward.
Marcel de Vries, a meteorologist at the Icelandic MetOffice, said there was no precise count of the lightning strikes recorded. “There were just a lot — it was unusually high,” he told RÚV.
Marcel explained that several factors contributed to the surge in lightning activity. Earlier in the day, a powerful weather front passed over the country, bringing strong winds and snowfall. Shortly after, a shift in wind direction created highly unstable, energy-rich conditions, fueling the widespread lightning across southern Iceland.
According to Marcel, the storms initially formed over the southwest before gradually moving east. By 21:00, lightning strikes were most concentrated east of Mýrdalsjökull and along the southeastern coast.
All pools in Reykjavík were temporarily closed due to lightning in southern Iceland.
Lightning in Iceland is not as uncommon as people think.
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