Beautifully situated in the southwest of Sweden, along the river Viskan, Borås is a vibrant city with excellent cross country soaring conditions.
Here is a run down of the conditions pilots can expect from Contest Director Kjell Folkesson
Borås has an inland climate with maritime elements. It has the second highest number of rainy days in Sweden with an average of 192 rainy days per year and averages 975 mm of precipitation per year.
In Scandinavia, cold air masses are common with north-westerly winds sweeping down maritime Polar or Arctic air from the Norwegian Sea over the Scandinavian mountain range. However, in April and beginning of May before the year's leaves appear on the trees, more sunlight reaches the ground and provides the opportunity for long thermal days with strong thermals from early morning to evening. Overdevelopment of cumulus is common when we get snow showers in the air, but the snow and rain evaporate before reaching the ground. A high cloud base of 2 - 3,000m is common.
It is also common to have temperatures of minus 10 to 20 degrees Celsius at cloud base, so you really need to be warmly dressed. The last time we hosted an SGP was in 2018 when it was much warmer than usual, so I am a little worried that some pilots might not dress for the cold.
Pilots can expect thermal strengths on a weak day to be 2 m/s and on a good day 8 m/s.
Borås is tricky in a sea breeze. Sea breezes come from either from the west coast, Lake Vänern or Lake Vättern.
Closer to Borås there is lot of forest and small lakes and not many good outlanding opportunities, but the terrain creates lot of thermals so it is normally not a problem. We also have other lakes - Åsunden for example. Together with terrain altitude shifting, we get strange weather when it is hard to say what side of the lake you should pass.
SGP tasks will be using inland terrain and will have challenges with lakes, sea breezes etc. If we get Easterly winds, we can try to send competitors out to the west coast near Varberg. Otherwise tasks will be will mainly be to the east. I know most pilots, including Swedish ones, will feel there is lot of forest.
What is also good in Sweden in May is that weather can be good for gliding just 30 minutes after a front has passed, and we have long days. Several times I have started 08:30 and been able in fly thermals until sunset (21:14 on 10 May).
Kjell Folkesson
sweden22.sgp.aero
