Swedish News:

Sweden turned the clocks forward on Sunday. A long spring. Increased interest in EU elections. Zlatan as stamp. 

  • Spring has sprung in Sweden – this year earlier than normal. Above: Common snowdrops or ”snödroppar” – one of the surest signs that spring’s on the way in Sweden. Photo: Dex

  • Turning the clocks forward on Sunday
    Sweden is turning the clocks forward the night between Saturday and Sunday. So now Sweden is six hours ahead of the US again.

  • It is Sweden’s turn to ”spring forward”. If you have family and friends back home, remember they turn their clocks forward one hour this weekend, and will again be six hours ahead of us in the US.

  • A long spring
    This year the biological spring came earlier than usual to Sweden. ”We’ve seen signs of spring about a month earlier than in history,” says Kjell Bolmgren, biologist and researcher at Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences). Bolmgren refers to ”tussilago” (coltsfoot), ”blåsippa” (hepatica), and ”hassel” (hazel) in bloom. ”And now pussy willow is also on its way. Everything continues the same way – as if spring is just extremely early.” Bolmgren says that spring may take a break at some point, but that most plants are used to varied and unstable weather. Last year’s spring in Sweden was quite compressed, but this year each spring sign gets its own time to shine. ”A prolonged joy”, Bolmgren calls it. Even the meteorological spring came early this year. ”The definition of spring is that the average temperature must be above zero degrees Celsius (32F) for seven days in a row,” explains Erik Rindeskär, meteorologist at Foreca. In Stockholm, spring arrived at the end of February, which is a whole month too early. In Malmö, where it usually arrives around February 20-25, it instead arrived mid-February, which is around three weeks earlier than usual. ”We had a very mild period towards the end of February, and then we had a bit of a setback. But it is already warmer,” Rindeskär says.

  • More Swedes are interested in the EU and will participate in the EU election.

  • Increased interest in EU elections
    The number of Swedes who have decided to vote in the EU election, is increasing and quickly. This according to a Sifo survey commissioned by the web paper Europaportalen.

  • New postage stamps with soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic were just released in Sweden.

  • Zlatan as stamp
    If you’re in Sweden, you can get your hands on the new postage stamps with soccer super star Zlatan Ibrahimovic on them. There are five different images of the star. For more info, see: www.posten.se