The heat is coming to Sweden toward the weekend, especially in the east.
But it's a bit mixed from day to day. Friday looks like it will offer a lot of sun with higher temperatures of at most 20–25 degrees, says meteorologist Kristin Sahlberg at SMHI.
But this is not stable high-pressure weather; it will be a mix of sunshine and rain.
Important in the past
But why do we really care so much? Jonas Engman is an ethnologist at the Nordic Museum and is interested in rituals, among other things.
Historically, of course, the weather was important when most people were farmers.
"Back then, you could literally starve if it rained. If you didn't get a harvest, the farm would go to hell," he says.
In an attempt to control the weather, people resorted to magic and folk beliefs - not killing spiders, for example. Now we rely on science and SMHI - even though most people's livelihoods are not linked to precipitation.
"But the weather is still important, and I think it has to do with our approach to science: that we think it is important to have control and insight into what is happening around us."
Scandinavians have been described as the world's most sun-worshipping people. But sun - or for that matter swimming - has historically not been something to aspire to. Engman, who spent summers in Österlen in the 1960s, says that his friends' parents had hardly ever swum in the sea.
"They went down to the beach, brought a picnic, table, chairs, coffee and buns in the evening and sat there dressed up a bit. But it was definitely not about swimming; that would come in the 1960s."
According to him, the craving for the sun can be attributed to the same time period, when it became more common to travel to warmer climates.
"Then we started to see holidays in the sun as something nice. It was partly a kind of marker, or a way of showing that you could afford to be tanned and travel."
Driving with paleness
A tanned body, which is often shown off, is still associated with health. Jonas Engman himself does not like being in the sun.
"My family and others usually tease me because I'm so pale. It's, of course, because it's fun, but there's also an expectation that you should be outside and enjoy the sun."
The weather is also a safe topic of conversation and a conversation starter. But perhaps that is changing with climate change and the way we view it.
"I can imagine that the weather is becoming charged in a different way than it has been before."
