When to Drive Out

What the instruments on Öxnadalsheiði and Víkurskarð are measuring right now — road surface temperature included — and where the calmest hours fall over the next three days.

[data-tool-body-wait]{display:none}This part of the page needs JavaScript, and this browser isn’t running it. Everything else on the page still reads.

This still hasn’t loaded. It looks stuck rather than slow, so reloading is worth a try now.

Reload the page Other tools for Akureyri

About these tools

Town Tools builds free, public tools for Akureyri and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

The route

Öxnadalsheiði — the road south and west (Hringvegur)

541 m

The high point of Route 1 between Akureyri and Skagafjörður, and the stretch that shuts the road south. Vegagerðin's station sits on the heath itself, about 510 m above the town.

Vegagerðin — Öxnadalsheiði road condition — The live open, slippery or closed answer for this stretch.

Víkurskarð — the old road east

309 m

Route 1 has run through the Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel since 21 December 2018, so Víkurskarð is now the toll-free alternative rather than the main road east. It is lower than Öxnadalsheiði but exposed, and it closes in weather the tunnel is unaffected by.

Vegagerðin — Víkurskarð road condition — Also carries the tunnel's own status, when the tunnel is the better option.

Who decides whether the road is open

Vegagerðin (the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration) decides whether a road is open, closed or restricted, and clears it. The Icelandic Met Office (Veðurstofa Íslands) issues the weather warnings that usually explain why. In an emergency, call 112.

This page is not a road-status service. It shows what roadside instruments are measuring and what a weather model expects. Whether a road is open, closed or fit to drive is decided only by the road authority named above — check it before you set off.

Official channels

umferðin.is — Vegagerðin's live road conditionsThe authoritative open/closed answer, and the source of the measurements on this page.

Veðurstofa Íslands — weather warningsYellow, orange and red warnings for North Iceland.

safetravel.isTravel conditions and alerts from ICE-SAR.

About this road

Why the road surface temperature is the number to read

Air temperature and road temperature are not the same measurement and they routinely disagree. An exposed summit radiates heat to a clear sky faster than the air around it, so the tarmac on Öxnadalsheiði can sit below zero while a car thermometer reads two or three degrees above it. Vegagerðin's masts measure the surface directly, and where they also measure the dew point beside it this page says so — moisture settles on a surface that is at or below its dew point, which is how a dry-looking road becomes an icy one. Not every station has a surface probe. Where one is missing this page says the surface is not measured rather than filling the gap.

Source: Vegagerðin, roadside weather stations (umferðin.is), checked 8 August 2026 (2 months ago).

Öxnadalsheiði is the stretch that closes

At about 540 m, Öxnadalsheiði is the highest point on Route 1 between Akureyri and Skagafjörður and one of the most frequently closed roads in Iceland outside the F-road network. North-easterly storms drive drifting snow across it through the winter; when it shuts, the alternative is a long detour rather than a short one. The elevations on this page are read from the Copernicus digital elevation model at each station's own coordinates.

Source: Vegagerðin (umferðin.is); elevations via Open-Meteo's Copernicus DEM lookup, checked 8 August 2026 (2 months ago).

There is no wind limit on this page, and that is deliberate

We looked for a published Icelandic wind threshold for driving — the figure that would let this page say "above this, don't cross" — and could not find one issued by Vegagerðin or the Met Office. The numbers that circulate come from car-rental guidance and do not agree with each other. Rather than invent a limit and print it beside a real instrument reading, this page ranks the coming hours against each other and shows the actual gust, so you can weigh it against your own vehicle and the official warnings.

Source: Checked against Vegagerðin and Veðurstofa Íslands publications, checked 8 August 2026.

When to Drive Out

About these tools

On the passes right now

Öxnadalsheiði — the road south and west (Hringvegur)

Víkurskarð — the old road east

The route

Öxnadalsheiði — the road south and west (Hringvegur)

Víkurskarð — the old road east

Who decides whether the road is open

Official channels

About this road

Why the road surface temperature is the number to read

Öxnadalsheiði is the stretch that closes

There is no wind limit on this page, and that is deliberate