Sweltering heat scorches Sweden as wildfires rage in Arctic Circle

STOCKHOLM — As Europe grapples with near-record temperatures and sustained drought, Sweden has become the latest nation to confront a wave of wildfires as far north as the Arctic Circle, prompting authorities to evacuate some villages and to appeal for help from neighboring Norway and distant Italy.

There were no immediate reports of any deaths or injuries, but the intensity of the fires and the extreme weather conditions earlier in the year have prompted anguished debate among some Swedes who have described the conflagrations in apocalyptic terms and linked them to global warming.

“It’s very, very dry in most of Sweden,” Jonas Olsson, a hydrologist at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, said Thursday. “The flows in the rivers and lakes are exceptionally low, except in the very northern part of the country. We have water shortages.”

Rainfall was only around a seventh of the normal amount — the lowest since record-keeping began in the late 19th century, he said.

“It has been a very strange year,” Olsson added, referring to the swing from thick snow in winter, to a sudden warming in May to “very big” spring floods. “Surely, it’s an unusual situation. It is in line with what we would expect from a global warming perspective that we would see these extremes.”

Last year, parts of Europe sweltered under a heat wave that residents in France, Italy and Spain called “Lucifer.” Deadly fires swept Portugal and Spain. But unusually this year, fires have consumed forests and moorland in huge swaths of land in parts of Europe that are much less accustomed to them.

Radio Sweden said Friday more than 50 fires were burning across the country, including in central counties and in Swedish Lapland, inside the Arctic Circle, threatening forests near the tourist center of Jokkmokk.

“I want to be very clear about this,” Dan Eliasson, director general of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, said Friday, Radio Sweden reported. “I want to warn about underestimating the severity of the situation. Even if the weather changes, and rain comes, this can continue to escalate. “

Temperatures in the Arctic Circle generally plummet far below zero in winter but soar in summer. The fires outside Jokkmokk are the most severe in more than a decade, according to the local fire service.

In the city of Uppsala, north of Stockholm, temperatures reached about 91 degrees Fahrenheit, news reports said.