Summary
The governmental report “En trygg dricksvattenförsörjning” (“A safe water supply”) aims to identify current and potential challenges for safe management of drinking water in Sweden. One starting point will be the expected effects of climate change on the drinking water supply.
SMHI has produced this summary of the Swedish climate up until today, which particularly focuses on the period 1961-2013, and forms an important contribution to the governmental report.
The report summarises material concerning Sweden’s climate, in particular from www.smhi.se, but also from reports and other SMHI sources. The material is therefore not homogenous concerning time periods, geographic distribution or methods.
The last few decades have been warm and wet for Sweden. Over the last 20 years the temperature has increased by about 1 °C (yearly annual mean). The vegetation period has become longer, in particular in northern Sweden.
The 1970s were dry, but precipitation has increased since then, in particular during the summers. Annual precipitation now usually reaches over 600 mm. The increase in precipitation is most noticeable in the south western parts of the country.
The year 2000 reached an extreme for run-off and is also the year with highest precipitation. Torrential rain in cities can cause immediate problems with flooding and over the last few years several cases have been noted, such as Göteborg in 2010 and Malmö in 2014.