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CLIMATE.
35
York, it is seen that its winter temperature is about the same as that of Lund,
whereas its summer temperature is 7 or 8 degrees higher than that of Lund.
The shortness of the Swedish summer is, moreover, counterbalanced to a
considerable degree by the length of the summer days and their abundant
sunshine, whose beneficent influence on both animal and vegetable life is
most conspicuous in such a very northerly country as Sweden. At
Karesuando (68° 27’ N Lat.), the sun remains above the horizon during 53
successive days, from May 26 to July 18; at Haparanda, at the summer
solstice, a little more than 23 hours; at Stockholm 18V2 h., and at Lund 17V2
h., and so on. This is partly due to atmospheric refraction, which increases
the average length of the day by 30 minutes in the northern, and by 15
minutes in the southern part of Sweden, the corresponding figure at the
Equator being only 4 minutes. Still more important is the influence
of the twilight, which adds several hours to the length of the day during
the summer in the north of the country. In fact, there is uninterrupted
daylight as far south as Härnösand (62° 37’) from the 16 to the 27 June.
Thus the Swedish summer, especially in the north, is a season of
nearly uninterrupted daylight. These light summer-evenings and nights,
when all nature seems to have fallen into a quiet dream, have a magic
beauty of their own and — for a stranger from southern lands especially —
constitute one of the most enchanting and lasting memories he receives.
The beneficent influence of the summer light in Sweden is still more
increased by the considerable number of hours of bright sunshine, which,
during the month of June, for example, is greater at Jokkmokk, in the
interior of Lappland, than at Home or Madrid. This is explained by the.
length of the time during which the sun is above the horizon, and also by
the relative scarcity of clouds in Sweden at this time of year. On an
average for the whole country, only 50 % of the sky is covered with
clouds during the month of June, as compared with 74 % in December.
This phenomenon, of which the cause is unknown, has an exceptionally
favourable influence on the climate of Sweden, for the heating effect
of the sun’s rays is thus relatively unimpaired in summer, whereas the
loss of heat caused by radiation is considerably diminished in the winter
season, which results in a relatively hot summer and only a moderately
cold winter. In the interior and the north of the peninsula, there are,
however, two regions where radiation during winter is less restricted by
clouds, while the warm south-westerly winds are shut out by the
Scandinavian mountain-range, and here, consequently, during that season, two
centres of cold are formed, which are of importance for the winter
climate of Sweden. One of them, the smaller and warmer, has its centre at
62° N Lat., north of Christiania. It embraces Härjedalen and north
Dalarne in Sweden, and, in Norway, the district south and west of Röros.
The mean temperature for January in this centre is below — 13 ° and,
during very severe winters, has even fallen as low as — 20°. The other
"cold-centre", which is larger and colder, lies in north Lappland and
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