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Thursday, 29 October 2026 Icelandic stories. Global audience.
Volcanoes & Nature

Icelandic Met Office will not issue more local weather warnings

Despite calls for more localised alerts after severe weather in Siglufjörður, the Icelandic Met Office says it has no plans to change how it subdivides warning areas.

Low cloud and mist rolling over houses and harbour (Siglufjörður)
Image: ThibautRe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · licence, original (resized) Illustrative image.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office (Veðurstofa Íslands), which oversees weather and volcanic monitoring across Iceland, has no plans to further subdivide its colour-coded weather warning regions. This follows suggestions that more localised warnings are needed, after RÚV English reported that a recent storm hit the northern town of Siglufjörður harder than predicted.

Siglufjörður, a small fishing town in the Northeast Constituency and part of Fjallabyggð municipality, experienced worse-than-expected conditions last week as a deep autumn low-pressure system moved across the country. A meteorologist told RÚV English that the current system issues yellow, orange or red warnings over broad regions (red being the most severe). It does not provide sufficiently local information.

The meteorologist argued that the areas used for weather warnings are too large and said there should be more detailed, localised alerts when appropriate. Despite these recommendations, the Icelandic Meteorological Office confirmed to RÚV English that it does not plan to make the changes suggested by some meteorologists.

Background

The Icelandic Meteorological Office monitors weather, earthquakes and volcanic activity across Iceland. Siglufjörður, which saw particularly strong winds in the recent storm, is connected by tunnel to the neighbouring town of Ólafsfjörður and is known for its maritime museum, the Herring Era Museum.

Sources

Image: ThibautRe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · licence, original (resized) Illustrative image.