Such a simple question - so many consequences. Before I pack my bags, I first want to be sure that I bring just the right clothing for a week in the middle of July.Word has it that Utö is famous for its sunshine.
But if there is anything that I have learned from my time in Sweden, or even from my Norwegian heritage, is that Scandinavians are quite fond of adding "the best in all the land" to just about everything! So my initial instinct is to place this claim along with others such as "The biggest festival in all of Sweden"...
So let's see what the weather really looks like - who knows, perhaps it will indeed be "the most sunny island in all of Sweden"!
Sunshine
The first place I checked was the data made available by Falling Rain Genomics, and in particular, here. According to data available at the time of the writing of this entry I was able to obtain the following chart of the cloud cover for last week:
I then compaired this graph to other places in Sweden such as Ronneby in the south, Stockholm, and Djup, and it does appear that over this same period, Utö did indeed have less clouds in the sky than these locations. Of course this is not a scientific study, but at least it lends credence to the idea.
What I noticed the most in the chart is that the cloud cover in Utö over this week period exhibited more variation than the other 3 locations I looked at. In otherwords, the baseline was better towards a clear sky. So this tells me that on the island of Utö, I might expect scattered clouds, rather than a grey sky.
This is significant, as it also means that there is less rainfall.
Temperature
From the same website, I see that last week the temperature was fairly steady, and hovered around 15 degrees Celcius (59 degrees in Fahrenheit). This is, of course, perfect for me, as I have a particular avoidance to hot weather.
To get a general idea of the climate of the region, I therefore had a look at a seasonal graph of the temperatures and rainfall of Stockholm, which is not far away:
This therefore indicates that July is the hottest month on average for Utö, and that I can expect to have daytime temperatures that vary between 12 and 20 degrees Celsius, with an average about 17 (see current temperatures on Utö). Perfect for me, in other words :)
So this tells me that while I could bring shorts and T-shirts, it might be a bit cool if clouds appear overhead.
Conclusion
So after all this I have concluded that long pants or bermuda shorts and long-sleeved shirts are the best bet, though nothing too heavy. If I choose to wear a T-shirt, I should be sure that I also take with me a light jacket or windbreaker, though the best bet would be a nice heavy T-shirt.
As I anticipate little rain, tennis shoes should suffice, and I will not need hiking boots. I should therefore also not need to worry about too much rain gear or waterproof jackets. I will probably not even pack an umbrella - if necessary, I should be able to pick up a small one at the Spränga Kiosk - or elsewhere on the island.
If the nights are anything like in Brittany France, they will be quite chilly. Therefore, I should be sure to pack some nice cotton pajamas for the cabin, as the one I am going to rent this year is not heated.
The first place I checked was the data made available by Falling Rain Genomics, and in particular, here. According to data available at the time of the writing of this entry I was able to obtain the following chart of the cloud cover for last week:
I then compaired this graph to other places in Sweden such as Ronneby in the south, Stockholm, and Djup, and it does appear that over this same period, Utö did indeed have less clouds in the sky than these locations. Of course this is not a scientific study, but at least it lends credence to the idea. What I noticed the most in the chart is that the cloud cover in Utö over this week period exhibited more variation than the other 3 locations I looked at. In otherwords, the baseline was better towards a clear sky. So this tells me that on the island of Utö, I might expect scattered clouds, rather than a grey sky.
This is significant, as it also means that there is less rainfall.
Temperature
From the same website, I see that last week the temperature was fairly steady, and hovered around 15 degrees Celcius (59 degrees in Fahrenheit). This is, of course, perfect for me, as I have a particular avoidance to hot weather.
To get a general idea of the climate of the region, I therefore had a look at a seasonal graph of the temperatures and rainfall of Stockholm, which is not far away:
This therefore indicates that July is the hottest month on average for Utö, and that I can expect to have daytime temperatures that vary between 12 and 20 degrees Celsius, with an average about 17 (see current temperatures on Utö). Perfect for me, in other words :)So this tells me that while I could bring shorts and T-shirts, it might be a bit cool if clouds appear overhead.
Conclusion
So after all this I have concluded that long pants or bermuda shorts and long-sleeved shirts are the best bet, though nothing too heavy. If I choose to wear a T-shirt, I should be sure that I also take with me a light jacket or windbreaker, though the best bet would be a nice heavy T-shirt.
As I anticipate little rain, tennis shoes should suffice, and I will not need hiking boots. I should therefore also not need to worry about too much rain gear or waterproof jackets. I will probably not even pack an umbrella - if necessary, I should be able to pick up a small one at the Spränga Kiosk - or elsewhere on the island.
If the nights are anything like in Brittany France, they will be quite chilly. Therefore, I should be sure to pack some nice cotton pajamas for the cabin, as the one I am going to rent this year is not heated.
UPDATE: Just had another look at the temperature, cloud cover and rain. Looks like over the past week the temperature average has risen to 19 degrees Celsius, and there is still the big variation throughout the day between cloudy and clear skys, with just a little bit of rain Tuesday night.
UPDATE: The day before we leave, looks like rain has come!