The Norwegian Road Traffic Center reports several closed mountain crossings and challenging driving conditions on Christmas Day. A yellow danger warning has been issued for snow drifts on the southern mountain passes on Christmas Day. National highway 7 above Hardangervidda is closed to cars. Vehicles over 7.5 tonnes have to line up in convoys and Fv53 Tyin – Årdal is closed due to bad weather. Fv 53 Tyin – Årdal is closed due to storms Photo: Statens vegvesen There is a convoy for all vehicles on the E134 over Haukelifjell. Fv 50 Aurland – Hol stormy weather with strong wind has been reported. Here there is a danger of convoy driving at short notice. Traffic operator Arne Viken urges drivers to allow extra time. – Remember that it is winter and that it is not unusual for snow on the road, urges Viken. There has been a yellow warning for snow in Western Norway, snow towards Stad. Up to 25 cm of snow was expected in the mountains from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. Filefjell and Hemsedalsfjellet are open – When we don’t report anything, people have to expect that there are completely normal driving conditions depending on the time of year, says traffic operator at Vegtrafikksentralen West, Jørgen Bødtker. But precisely the time of year is a very central point when talking about “normal driving conditions”. – Now we are in the middle of winter and we have had very strong winds and heavy snow. Hardangervidda is also closed to cars. Photo: Norwegian Public Roads Administration He emphasizes that those who are going over a mountain pass that does not have a notice outside, must calculate that there is winter snow over the mountain. – Where we have a message out there, we have to expect that there are simply bad conditions. Tree in the roadway The Vegtrafikksentralen West has also received reports of trees that have fallen on the roadway across the whole of Vestland. – It is probably due to a lot of rainfall and snow on the trees combined with wind, says traffic operator Arne Viken. He also states that there is a lot of slush and snow on the road network in Sogn og Fjordane, which can cause challenging driving conditions. Little traffic in Aust It has snowed a lot during the night in large parts of Oslo and Viken. – There is little traffic and some snow on Vegan. It is both plowed, salted and strewn, says traffic operator at the Road Traffic Center in Aust, Turid Nyman. It has (knock on the table) not caused any challenges or incidents. – Christmas Day is mostly a day with local traffic, says Nyman.
ttn-69
Bad weather over several mountain passes – news Vestland
