Icelandic road signs and road-report terms, explained

These are the words umferdin.is and the roadside information boards use for the state of a road section. The planner’s road-conditions page translates them with the same ranking.

• Lokað: closed. A barrier or a sign; driving past it voids your insurance and can end with a rescue bill.
• Ófært: impassable. Not formally closed but not drivable; often snow (ófært vegna snjóa) or mud (vegna aurbleytu). Treat as closed.
• Þæfingur: heavy, drifting or deep snow, difficult going. 4x4 with winter tyres, daylight only, and expect it to become ófært.
• Þungfært: heavy going, usually deep snow or mud. Same as above.
• Snjóþekja: the road is covered in snow. Winter tyres, 60 to 70 km/h at most.
• Hált: slippery, ice or packed snow along the section. Flughált is extremely slippery (glare ice). Slow right down; this is where most winter accidents happen.
• Hálkublettir: icy patches. Mostly clear, with ice in shade, on bridges and over passes. Fine with winter tyres if you expect it.
• Krap: slush. Slippery and heavy on the steering; it hides ice beneath.
• Greiðfært: clear, easily passable. The word you want.
• Fært fjallabílum: passable for 4x4 (highland vehicles) only. Seen on F-roads and mountain tracks.
• Ekki í þjónustu: not in service, meaning unmaintained in winter. Usually a side road; do not rely on it.
• Vantar upplýsingar: no information yet, usually early in the morning before the road has been checked.

The weather office (vedur.is) and the road authority share these. Wind is given in metres per second; 20 m/s is a gale, 25 m/s and up is the level at which rental companies warn about doors and high-sided vehicles.

• Skafrenningur: drifting snow blowing across the road, cutting visibility to nothing even under a clear sky. Stop if you cannot see the next marker pole.
• Éljagangur: snow showers, passing squalls of snow that make a clear road slippery for minutes at a time.
• Hvassviðri / stormur / rok: strong wind, storm, very strong wind. Over 20 m/s, do not open a car door into the wind; over 25 m/s, consider not driving.
• Sandfok / sandstormur: blowing sand on the south coast sands (Mýrdalssandur, Skeiðarársandur). Strips paint and windscreens; sand damage is excluded from basic insurance.
• Óvissustig, hættustig, neyðarstig: the civil protection levels (uncertainty, danger, emergency), used for storms, eruptions and floods. Óvissustig means watch the news; the others mean follow instructions.
• Aurbleyta: mud and soft ground from thaw or rain, the reason gravel and highland roads close in spring.

Iceland uses the standard European sign shapes, but several warnings are its own and the yellow information signs carry Icelandic words.

• Einbreið brú: single-lane bridge. The car closer to the bridge has priority; slow down and look for the other side before you commit. There are still dozens on the Ring Road.
• Blindhæð: blind hill, a crest you cannot see over. Keep right and slow down; the road may be single-track over the top.
• Malbik endar: paved road ends. Slow to 60 before the gravel starts, not after.
• Malarvegur: gravel road. 80 km/h limit, but 60 is the sensible speed; loose gravel on bends takes cars off the road every week in summer.
• Einbreiður vegur / einbreið göng: single-lane road or tunnel. In single-lane tunnels, the side with the passing bays (útskot) gives way.
• Óbrúaðar ár: unbridged rivers ahead. Only on F-roads; the sign means fords you must judge yourself.
• Vegur lokaður: road closed. Often with a date range on highland roads.
• Hámarkshraði: speed limit. 90 on paved rural roads, 80 on gravel, 50 in towns, 30 in residential streets; cameras are common and fines are high.
• Sauðfé á vegi: sheep on the road. They are, from May to September, everywhere; a lamb crossing means its mother follows.

The same four decisions, every winter morning. Check umferdin.is before you leave, and the live road-conditions page on this site for the English version; both update through the day.

• Greiðfært or hálkublettir on your whole route: go, with winter tyres, and keep the speed down on the passes.
• Hált, snjóþekja or krap on a section: go if you have a 4x4 with winter tyres and daylight for the whole drive; otherwise wait for the plough, usually by late morning.
• Þæfingur, þungfært or ófært anywhere on the route: do not plan to pass today. Stay another night, or reroute if the planner can keep you on clear roads.
• Lokað: closed, no exceptions. Rescue teams charge for pulling out cars that passed a barrier, and the insurance will not pay.
• A storm warning (hvassviðri or worse) with a civil-protection level: stay where you are. Roads can close while you are on them.

Icelandic place names describe the place. Reading the ending tells you what is there and often what the road will be like.

• Foss: waterfall (Gullfoss, Skógafoss, Dettifoss).
• Jökull: glacier (Vatnajökull); jökulsá is a glacier river, cold, grey and strong.
• Fjörður: fjord; vík: bay or cove; vogur: inlet.
• Fjall: mountain; heiði: heath or high moorland pass, the part of any route that closes first in winter (Holtavörðuheiði, Öxnadalsheiði).
• Dalur: valley; sandur: outwash plain of black sand, flat, windy and exposed (Mýrdalssandur).
• Hraun: lava field; laug: hot pool or spring; hver: hot spring or geyser; reykur: steam (Reykjavík, smoky bay).
• Vatn: lake (also water); á: river; vað: ford, the word to look for on highland maps.
• Vegur: road; leið: route (Kjalvegur, Sprengisandsleið); the F in F-road stands for fjall, mountain.