Bergen - Climate

Climate

Bergen features a temperate oceanic climate with relatively mild winters and cool summers. Despite being so far north, Bergen's weather is relatively mild. In the winter, Bergen is one of the warmest cities in Norway, caused by the Gulf Stream. Bergen experiences plentiful rainfall, with annual precipitation measuring 2,250 mm (89 in) on average. This is because the city is surrounded by mountains that cause moist North Atlantic air to undergo orographic lift, which yields abundant rainfall. Rain fell every day between 29 October 2006 and 21 January 2007, 85 consecutive days. In Bergen, precipitation is plentiful and heavy rain can happen at any time of the year. The highest temperature ever recorded was 31.8 °C, a record that dates back to 1947. The lowest ever recorded is −16.3 °C, in 1987. The high precipitation is often used in the marketing of the city, and figures to a degree on postcards sold in the city. For some time there were umbrella vending machines in the city, but these did not turn out to be a success.

In recent years, precipitation and winds have increased in the city. In late 2005, heavy rains caused floods and several landslides, the worst of which killed three people on 14 September. Some indications are that due to climate change, severe storms causing landslides and floods will become more powerful in the area and in surrounding counties in coming years. As a response, the municipality created a special 24-man rescue unit within the fire department in 2005, to respond to future slides and other natural disasters, and neighbourhoods considered at risk of slides were surveyed in 2006. As of October 2007, the prediction has been supported by over 480 landslides in Hordaland county from the spring of 2006 to the summer of 2007. Most of the slides hit roads however none of them caused damage to cars, buildings, or people, until October 2007, when a large rock dislodged and killed the driver of a car. Another concern is the risk of rising sea levels. Already today, Bryggen is regularly flooded at extreme tide, and it is feared that as sea levels rise, floods will become a major problem in Bergen. Floods may in the future reach the old fire station in Olav Kyrres Gate, as well as the railroad tracks leading out of the city. It has therefore been suggested by among others Stiftelsen Bryggen, the foundation responsible for preserving the UNESCO site, that a sea wall, built so that it could be raised and lowered as demanded by the tides, be built outside the harbour to protect the city.