Signs of Spring: Smiles and Grills

Icelanders have taken out their gas grills. Spring is here.

Icelanders have taken out their gas grills. Spring is here.

Vala Hafstað

Morgunblaðið

Spring is in the air in Iceland. Not only is it evident on weather maps, but also in people’s cheerfulness and in the sale of propane tanks. The grill season has clearly begun. In apartment buildings in the metropolitan area, residents were seen taking out their garden furniture over the weekend and enjoying the sun.

A number of optimistic people wiped the dust off their gas grills and headed to the nearest gas station to fill up their propane tank.

“Business is good, and most of the propane tanks sold out,” remarked Jón Ingvi Geirsson, store manager at Olís gas station in Garðabær.  One customer interviewed by Morgunblaðið said he was among about 80 customers there on Saturday.

Jón Ingvi admitted the gas station was hardly ready for the high demand, since new supplies of gas tanks only arrive every other week in the winter, through Easter.

Business was also good at N1 in Fossvogur. “All the ten-kilo tanks sold out,” Harpa Viðarsdóttir remarked.  “Summer is here. People are much more cheerful now,” she added.

Einar Long, CEO of Grillbúðin, which sells outdoor grills, agreed that the weather cheered people up. He noted optimism among the customers and increased traffic over the weekend.  

The forecast for today calls for easterly winds of 3-8 m/sec. It will be windier on the south coast, or 10-15 m/sec. Mostly fair, but cloudy and scattered rain or snow showers in the southeast. Clouds will move into the southwest tomorrow night. Temperatures will range between 3 and 8 degrees C (37-46 degrees F) during the day, with lows of 0-6 degrees C (32-43 degrees F) overnight in the north and west.

Weather

Partly cloudy

Today

3 °C

Clear sky

Tomorrow

3 °C

Clear sky

Saturday

2 °C