Weather Forecast Mishap: Mehamn Reported to Reach 40 Degrees, Turns out to be a Typographical Error

Summer is coming tomorrow to Troms and Finnmark, that was at least what was reported on the Dagsrevyen.

– So good, they’re probably happy about that, they complain that it’s so cold, says a laughing John Smits when VG draws his attention to an ever so small blip in Wednesday’s weather forecast.

Because when the state meteorologist and the weatherman were to report the weather for Troms and Finnmark for Thursday, at least one viewer opened their eyes and contacted VG.

Among temperatures such as five degrees in Alta, five degrees in Hammerfest and five degrees in Vardø, the number 40 appeared on the temperature forecast for Mehamn.

– That’s what can happen. We enter everything manually. It occasionally happens that there is a miss. It’s not always that you get everything, even if you proofread, says Smits.

In Mehamn, in around four degrees on Wednesday evening, the mayor of Gamvik municipality, Alf Normann Hansen (Sv), sits.

He did not get to see the Dagsrevyen on Wednesday, and breaks out with the following when VG confronts him with the weather report:

– So wonderful, we needed that!

A few minutes later, after checking what the weather will actually be like on Thursday, he confirms:

– It is very cool compared to what was reported.

The mayor says that spring in the north is taking its course as normal. That the lawns are starting to turn green and that the birch is starting to shed its leaves.

But does he perceive the miss as a mockery?

– We take things like this in a very good mood. We don’t take it too seriously, and are looking forward to summer temperatures eventually, concludes Normann Hansen.

Weather forecaster Smits says that he was not aware of the mistake until VG called, but during the first minutes of the car ride home from Marienlyst, he has a possible explanation:

– We have numbers on all weather symbols, and symbol 40 is rain showers. It could be that the number from the symbol has ended up in the field where the temperature is written, says the state meteorologist.

The original plan, and the number that was keyed in, was five degrees, says the weatherman.

The weather forecast service Pent.no shows that it will be precisely five degrees for the town.

– We can’t do anything but take it in good spirits and sharpen ourselves for the next time, says Smits about the slip.

And bigger misses have happened, he says.

– I remember one time Kristen Gislefoss had 100 degrees somewhere, it was supposed to be ten, but there was an extra zero.