Hagfors is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

and the seat of

Hagfors Municipality Hagfors Municipality (''Hagfors kommun'') is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Hagfors. The present municipality was created in 1974, when the City of Hagfors (itself instituted as a mu ...

Värmland County Värmland County (''Värmlands län'') is a county or '' län'' in west central Sweden. It borders the Swedish counties of Dalarna, Örebro and Västra Götaland, as well as the Norwegian counties of Viken and Innlandet to the west. Prince Carl P ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

with 10,125 inhabitants in 2010. Its history is traced to 1873, when it was decided to build two

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

s at the location. The town of Hagfors plays host to the

Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

, a

car rally Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

, every February, which provides a significant annual economic windfall for the region. Hagfors was one of the last places in Sweden to receive the formal title of a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, when it was detached from ''Norra Råda'' in 1950. The designated coat of arms was a tribute to the furnaces. At that time the town had 6,501 inhabitants. Today it is the seat of the much larger

, but is not an administrative entity of its own.

Climate

The Hagfors area has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

due to the area's cool nights. The official weather station is located in Gustavsfors, a rural locality to the north at a similar altitude. The climate type is very unusual for subarctic climate since summer days are warm in combination with winter average highs being just below freezing with lows only being around . Cold extremes are frequent for such a southerly area, with an all-time low of being unique for a Swedish area just north of 60 degrees latitude. It being a subarctic climate is a result of the low September night temperatures. Given that Gustavsfors is located somewhat north and Hagfors being a little bit more urban, it is quite possible that the locality just reaches the

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (al ...

threshold that would require September mean temperatures. In terms of the official reference period of 1961-1990 however, the area is firmly subarctic.

Transportation

Hagfors Airport Hagfors Airport is an airport near Hagfors, Värmland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN ...

is located at the town's border. There are flights with

Nextjet NextJet was one of the largest regional airlines in Sweden. It was headquartered in Frösundavik in Solna Municipality, just north of Stockholm. The airline filed for bankruptcy on 16 May 2018, half a year after one of its planes was believed ...

Stockholm Arlanda Stockholm Arlanda Airport is an international airport located in the Sigtuna Municipality of Sweden, near the town of Märsta, north of Stockholm and nearly south-east of Uppsala. The airport is located within Stockholm County and the provi ...

and

Torsby Torsby () is a locality and the seat of Torsby Municipality in Värmland County, Sweden with 4,049 inhabitants in 2010. Fortum Ski Tunnel Torsby, the world's longest ski tunnel, is located in Torsby. Notable people * Football manager Sven-Gör ...

Notable people

Stefan Erkgärds Stefan Erkgärds (born March 23, 1985 in Hagfors, Sweden) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman, currently with Rögle BK in the Swedish Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide s ...

(born 1985), professional ice hockey player *

Monica Zetterlund Monica Zetterlund (born Eva Monica Nilsson; 20 September 1937 – 12 May 2005) was a Sweden, Swedish jazz Singing, singer and Actor, actress. Through her lifetime, she starred in over 10 Swedish film productions and recorded over 20 studio ...

(born 1937), renowned jazz vocalist

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Värmland County Populated places in Hagfors Municipality Municipal seats of Värmland County Swedish municipal seats