Water from the Hvítá River in Árnessýsla, near the farm of Brúnastaðir in Flói, is now overflowing the river bank and finding its way into an irrigation canal that lies there. The mouth of the canal is blocked by ice and the floodgate in it is closed. Therefore, water flows into the canal at the river's overflow. This has been happening for over an hour. The progress is rapid.

A total of 14 people were awarded the Icelandic Order of the Falcon at Bessastaðir yesterday.

The people of Hafnarfjörður and nearby areas didn't let the extreme cold stop them from taking to the sea and swimming in a cabin on the first day of the year. The company Trefjar provided a cabin that was hoisted onto the bank at Langeyrarmalir and invited the sea swimmers to warm up after their swim.

Iceland Monitor wishes you all a happy new year and thanks you for your support over the past year.

Radio host Kristín Sif Björgvinsdóttir went for a New Year's Eve swim in the Mývatn region in -22 degrees below zero Celcius.

"It's absolutely freezing outside. People are more or less staying inside unless they have to do something special," says Sigurlína Tryggvadóttir, a farmer in Svartárkot in Bárðardalur, in an interview with mbl.is.

There will be fourteen New Year's Eve bonfires in the capital area today and tonight. The weather forecast is good for the evening and people are encouraged to wear protective glasses.

There is a risk that Hellisheiði will be impassable this evening and night due to severe weather that is expected to pass there.

More than four thousand people made their way to Mt Bláfjöll skiing resort yesterday, as the unexpectedly calm and mild weather yesterday was ideal for a ski trip. “It was a fantastic day,” said Einar Bjarnason, the ski resort’s operations manager, in an interview with Morgunblaðið. He said that yesterday had been the busiest day of the winter.

A driver was stuck on Klettsháls in the southern Westfjords for two to three hours last night. Rescue teams were sent to the scene, but at first, it was believed that the driver was on Dynjandisheiði.

Hafdís Guðrún Hilmarsdóttir, a running enthusiast, made her 300th trip up Esja yesterday. In an interview with mbl.is, she says there was no particular goal to achieve this number of trips this year.

The major changes that have taken place in the country's highest offices this year are newsworthy for many reasons, not least the fact that women now hold the positions of prime minister, president and bishop.

“We have shown how new mutations come much more often from the father than from the mother,” says Kári Stefánsson, CEO of DeCode Genetics.

More than 80,500 foreign citizens were registered as residents of Iceland on December 1, according to the National Register of Iceland. This means that about a fifth of the population is of foreign origin.

A bus with over 20 passengers on board went off the road on Þingvellir Road near Úlfljótsvatn last night and was stuck and got nowhere.

Residents of the capital area can expect considerable cold this weekend, with frosts that can drop to 13 to 18 degrees.

As the church bells ring in Christmas at six o’clock today, on Christmas Eve, Ástbjörn Egilsson is at work in Reykjavík Cathedral as he has done at this time every year since 1999. “It’s wonderful to be in church on Christmas Eve, as it is on all days,” he says. “It’s a good community and it gets even better on big holidays like Christmas and Easter.”

A swim on Christmas Eve is a rich tradition for many.

A large crowd attended the Peace March in downtown Reykjavík last night. Peace activists gathered at Hlemm to the music of the Hamrahlíð High School choir and marched down Laugavegur to Austurvöllur, where an outdoor meeting was held.

Domestic online shopping has been doing exceptionally well in the run-up to Christmas and has exceeded expectations in many respects, especially in November and early December.

Stormy weather hit the south and west of the country last night and early this morning with wind, sleet and rain, but the weather has mostly subsided by morning.

Director Þorleifur Örn Arnarsson and visual artist Erna Mist Yamagata are creating their world in a new home. They met over a year ago and are now working together for the first time on Tennessee Williams’s play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which will premiere at the City Theatre on December 28. The couple is expecting a child in January, but Arnarson has a 13-year-old son from a previous marriage.

The policy statement of the Coalition of The Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party was presented in Hafnarfjörður today. A new ministerial structure was presented, with 11 new ministers being introduced. Four come from the the Social Democrats, four from the Liberal Reform Party, and three from the People's Party.

The government coalition agreement of the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party will be presented this weekend and a new government will be formed as a result.

Christmas should be white across most of the country, according to a meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office. On St Thorlak’s Mass gales or storms are forecast, and on Christmas Eve there could be considerable snow in the south and west of the country.

Roads in the country's south could become icy and quite dangerous when it rains on frozen roads today.

The leaders of the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party will continue to work today on writing a government charter for a new government. According to Ingileif Friðriksdóttir, assistant to Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, the leader of the Liberal Reform Party, that work is going well.

The film Touch by Baltasar Kormákur has been selected for the shortlist for the 2025 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Foreign Minister Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörður Gylfadóttir attended a meeting of the leaders of the Joint Response Force (JRF) this week. The development of security issues in Europe, increased cooperation between the JRF countries and defense support for Ukraine were discussed at the meeting, which ended yesterday.

The ski resort in Mt Bláfjöll was scheduled to open for the first time this winter at 2 pm today. It was announced on the ski resort's Facebook page early this morning, but since the wind in the area has increased significantly and looks set to pick up even more as the day progresses, Mt Bláfjöll will be closed today.

The Grindavík town council wants to preserve the traces of the disaster in Grindavík and thereby unite the town's past and future. A draft of a new framework plan was presented today and includes, among other things, the preservation and use of cracks, lava, and some traces of buildings in an innovative way.

A stunning photograph of the eye of the crater during the eruption of Litli-Hrútut in August 2023 won an international photography award in New York, USA. The Icelander who took the photograph was also named Photographer of the Year. You can see the award-winning photo here below.

The crew of the Coast Guard patrol ship Þór managed to rescue a whale that had become stuck in a mooring area north of Viðey earlier today.

The chairwomen of the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party have met with their people today. They will not give interviews or information about the progress of the government formation talks until tomorrow at the earliest.