Visiting Snæfellsnes: Weather and Road Conditions

This is how we, the locals, check the weather and road conditions. Knowing the weather and road conditions is key for a safe and enjoyable trip to Snæfellsnes peninsula.

Weather
Often the weather systems develop quickly and can move across the whole North Atlantic in a matter of few hours. That makes forecasting generally difficult compared to slower moving weather systems. Summer is generally much better than winter when it comes to weather!

Long term weather forecast
To get the big picture for up to 6 days ahead we like to use the Atlantic Ocean ECMWF forecast. This forecast shows how the weather systems are developing on a large scale and if there are any extremes on the way. https://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/atlantic/

 Short term weather forecast
In our experience, the Icelandic Met Office has the most accurate short-term forecast. It tends to be accurate for 3-4 days ahead. There are two ways to explore this forecast.

The symbol version: Good to see the weather at a quick glance. Is it going to snow or rain? Will there be sun? Note that you can click parts of the country to see any part of Iceland in more detail.
https://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/areas/

The element version: Good to see local weather patterns around mountains and how weather systems develop. Note that there are tabs for wind, precipitation and temperature. You can also select "Breiðafjörður" for more detailed view of Snæfellsnes.
https://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/elements/

 Weather warnings
The Met Office issues warnings if they believe the weather might have a notable impact. The warning are color coded and it should be your priority to watch out for the warnings. Check once a day while here in Iceland and see if there is anything new. The weather warnings can be found in the top right corner of every page within the Met Office website as well as using this link here: https://en.vedur.is/alerts
Note that even yellow warnings (lowest level) can have significant impact.

Local weather problems

When the wind is strong, keep in mind that it's usually more intense wind on the lee-side of mountains. When the wind comes over the mountains it can funnel down with turbulance from the mountains and be much more intense than on the wind-side.
So when you have a choice it's often better to stay on the wind-side of mountains. This is especially true here in Snæfellsnes, where we can have relatively calm weather on one side and hurricane force wind gusts on the other side of the mountains. The wind element version of the short term forecast shows this effect generally quite well.

Road conditions

It is important to know the road conditions, especially in winter. Icy roads and high winds are combo that often get travelers in trouble. Snowdrift from snowstorms may close roads and the roads are not always closed before a storm comes. The locals often have powerful off road vehicles for heavy snow driving so don't follow anyone blindly into the unknown. Don't trust that a road is OK if it has no physical closure bars.
Monitor road conditions through this website, it's updated many times each day as conditions evolve.
https://umferdin.is/en