Sweden upgrades snow alert with up to 70cm forecast in northern region

UPDATE: 'Stay at home' – Sweden issues RED snow alert for first time in a decade

Sweden's weather agency SMHI issued warnings for heavy snow on Monday.

The alerts cover most regions between Södermanland in the south to Norrbotten in the north and vary in intensity with a class-three alert (the most serious on a scale from one to three) issued for the Västernorrland region and a class-two alert for Jämtland and Västerbotten.

Around 40-70 centimetres of snow is expected to fall in Västernorrland between Monday evening and the early hours of Wednesday, and coastal areas of Västerbotten are expected to get 25-50 centimetres of snow.

No warnings were in place for Stockholm on Monday morning, but its neighbouring regions were told to expect around 5-10 centimetres of snowfall, or possibly rain.

Temperatures are expected to stay below freezing for at least the next ten days.

But most parts of Sweden are not likely to reach the levels of Spain, where around half a metre of snow fell in parts of the country over the weekend, and snowball fights broke out in central Madrid.