Extreme Cold Blasts Nordic Region, Breaks 25-Year January Low in Sweden

Temperatures plummeted below minus 40 degrees Celsius in the Nordic region for the second consecutive day on Wednesday. Sweden logged its coldest January temperature in 25 years amidst the icy blast gripping the area.

The mercury plunged below minus 40 Celsius (also minus 40 Fahrenheit) across parts of northern Europe on Wednesday, following similar frigid conditions the day prior. According to the country's TT news agency, in the village of Kvikkjokk-Årrenjarka in Swedish Lapland, temperatures dropped to a bitter minus 43.6 C (minus 46.5 F).

This marked Sweden's coldest January reading since 1999.

On Tuesday, the small indigenous Sami settlement of Nikkaluokta in northern Sweden recorded a low of minus 41.6 C (minus 42.8 F). Nikkaluokta sits within the Lapland region, which stretches from northern Norway across Sweden and Finland into Russia.

Forecasters say overnight lows of minus 25 to minus 35 C (minus 13 to minus 31 F) will continue plaguing northern Sweden for the remainder of the week.