Norway
Norway Geography & Climate
Geography
Norway's shape is glacial. Ice sheets cut deep U-shaped valleys that the sea then flooded, producing fjords that are often deeper than the water outside them — Sognefjord reaches 1,308 metres, far below sea level.
The coast is fringed by a skjærgård of some 240,000 islands and skerries, which shelters the inshore passage the coastal ferries use.
The Scandinavian Mountains run down the spine, with Galdhøpiggen at 2,469 metres the highest point in northern Europe, and Jostedalsbreen the largest glacier on the European mainland.
The Gulf Stream keeps the coast extraordinarily mild for the latitude — Tromsø, at 69° north, has warmer winters than much of central Russia, and the northern ports stay ice-free year-round.
Fjords
Norway’s coast is cut by fjords — valleys gouged below sea level by glaciers and drowned when the ice retreated, leaving deep water between near-vertical walls. The Sognefjord runs over 200 kilometres inland and exceeds 1,300 metres in depth. Because the ice cut deepest where it was thickest, many fjords are shallower at the mouth than far inside, which traps deep water and affects everything from shipping to marine life.
A very long country
Norway stretches some 1,750 kilometres from the Skagerrak to the Barents Sea, and around a third of it lies north of the Arctic Circle. Including the fjords and its roughly 240,000 islands, the coastline is one of the longest in the world.
Mountains and plateau
The Scandinavian range runs the length of the country, with the Hardangervidda — Europe’s largest high plateau — and Jostedalsbreen, the largest glacier on the European mainland. Very little of Norway is arable, which is why the population has always clustered on the coast and around the Oslo fjord.
Climate Patterns
The Gulf Stream makes Norway anomalously mild: Bergen's winters are comparable to much of Britain despite sitting at the latitude of southern Greenland.
The west coast is very wet — Bergen records around 2,000 mm a year and has a genuine reputation for it. The inland east is drier, colder in winter and warmer in summer.
Daylight is the defining variable. Above the Arctic Circle the sun does not set for weeks around midsummer, and does not rise for weeks around midwinter. Even in Oslo, midsummer gives about 19 hours of light and midwinter around six.
Mountain weather changes fast and snow is possible on the high passes in any month. Many mountain roads close from October to May.
Warmer than the map suggests
The North Atlantic Drift keeps the Norwegian coast far milder than its latitude warrants and its ports ice-free to the Russian border — the greatest temperature anomaly for latitude anywhere in the world. Bergen in January is milder than much of central Europe.
Wet west, dry east
Atlantic air rising over the mountains dumps its moisture on the western coast, which is among the wettest parts of Europe — Bergen averages well over two metres a year and rain on around 230 days. The interior and the east, in the rain shadow, are drier, colder in winter and warmer in summer; Oslo has a proper continental winter with reliable snow.
Light
North of the Arctic Circle the sun does not set for weeks around midsummer and does not rise for weeks in winter. Even in the south the difference is dramatic, with long bright evenings in June and dark afternoons in December, and it shapes the year more than temperature does.