Stop the mockery - Stockholm can never be Luleå

 

Lena Mellin 

 

Stockholm is not like Luleå That's why it's chaos when the snow comes down 

 

Published: Less than 20 min ago 

 

Updated: Very recently 

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

 

COLUMNISTS 

 

Stockholm can never be like Luleå. 

 

Or for that matter Sundsvall. 

 

At least not when it comes to snow. So put away all mocking comments that contain the words Stockholmer, snow and incompetence. 

 

Here in Stockholm, other parts of eastern Sweden and along the E4, it has snowed a lot in the last 24 hours. Very much. Orange warning has been issued that the weather may cause danger to the public, serious damage to property and the environment and disruption of community functions. So it is not a few cozy Christmas Eve flakes and a thin whitewash of the ground that we are talking about. Except for heavy snowfall. Hour after hour. 

 

Already on Sunday, the local traffic went out and said that it was just as well that we prepared not to go to work on Monday. Anyone who could work at home would do so. Buses slipped around in the snow, subways and commuter trains did not fare well in the storm either, all SJ trains between the country's largest and fourth largest cities, Stockholm and Uppsala, were cancelled. 

Stockholm in the snow. Stockholm in the snow. Photo: Tim Aro/TT

 

But the snowstorm that is raging now is unusual. As a result of the climate crisis, it rarely snows in Stockholm. Even more unusual is that there is 30 centimeters of snow a day. Day after day. 

 

Last winter I shoveled five times. On none of these occasions would I say it was absolutely necessary. The last time there was a lot of snow in Stockholm was, as I recall, in connection with the American presidential election six years ago. Then it was much like now, but for a shorter period of time. 

 

So it is not surprising if there is chaos when it snows profusely hour after hour in the capital. You simply cannot have a standing readiness for the whole town to be plowed within hours regardless of how much snow has fallen. 

 

I hear the disgruntled murmur. Not from all, but from some. That this damn country, which is actually in the north, cannot learn to cope with a simple snowfall is a scandal. 

 

If it were, I would agree. But we are not talking about small snowfalls. But if huge. 

 

Stockholm is not Luleå. We are not even Sundsvall. It snows less here and thus the preparedness for extensive snow storms is not as great as where it snows more. It's simple math. You can also call it simple social economy. 

 

And that applies to the whole country. Many of us remember the snow chaos in Gävle in 1998. Gävle is located in southern Norrland. Between December 4 and 7, the snow cover increased from 1 to 131 millimeters. 

 

The Dalar regiment was sent to rescue the city, track wagons were used as ambulances, everything that could be canceled was cancelled. On December 8, the first train in four days left Gävle central. 

 

I also remember when the sleet fell over Kiruna a few years ago. Cars skidded off the road, the snow removal had difficulty getting there. Embarrassed, some northerners had to admit that they also cannot handle all types of snowfall with flying colours. 

 

One is forced to state that it is difficult to create a perfect weather world. Both in Luleå and in Stockholm. Sometimes it's just too much. Preparedness is not enough. 

 

In other words. I refrain from derisive comments that Stockholmers, or other Sörlanders, succumb as soon as a little snow arrives. 

 

We don't do that. To take myself as an example, today I work at the kitchen table. Food is in the fridge and freezer, I scoop every three hours. So I haven't succumbed, but am just waiting for the snow to subside (forecast for tonight), for the plow trucks to have time to do the job and then I can get to the newspaper. 

 

A completely different story is how authorities and transport companies handle the information to their users and customers. It is rarely unobjectionable.