Nordland - Climate

Climate

Nordland has a very mild climate for the high latitude. Some islands, like Myken, Træna and Røst, have average temperatures of ca 1 °C (33 °F) in their coldest month, 25 °C (45 °F) above average for the latitude. Nordland covers almost 5° latitude, but temperatures are moderated by proximity to the temperate sea; the annual mean only varies from 5.6 °C (42 °F) on the southern coast to 4 °C (39 °F) on the northern coast (1961–90). Summers are somewhat longer in the south. Winters are colder in the interior, fjords will moderate temperatures in nearby areas. Mountain areas are colder all year, with much longer winters - snow cover can persist all year at the higher mountains. Annual snow accumulation can exceed 5 m in the mountains - the main reason for the many glaciers in Nordland. Easterly winds give dry, sunny weather (the air must climb the Kjølen mountains), with warmth in summer and cold, clear air in winter. Southwesterly winds are common, bringing moist and mild air from the Atlantic ocean. Autumn and early winter is the wettest season along the coast of Nordland, while April - June on average is the driest. The strongest winds occur in late autumn and winter, as the Atlantic low pressure systems are strongest then. High pressure weather can occur in all seasons, and in summer this brings 24-hr sunshine north of the Arctic Circle.

Lurøy (115 m), west of Saltfjell, averages 2,935 mm precipitation annually; the wettest location in North Norway and in the world at such high latitude. Some of the wettest areas along the coast (a narrow band) north to Glomfjord fulfills the climatic criteria for a temperate rainforest . East of the mountains, Saltdal has a mean annual precipitation of less than 300 mm. Narvik in the northern part of Nordland averages 830 mm. Temperatures will generally drop 0.7 °C (1 °F) as elevation increases by 100 m. With mountains in almost all areas, alpine tundra is common in Nordland.

Recent years have tended to be warmer in Nordland than the fairly cold 1961 - 1990 base period. Glomfjord in Meløy, approximately halfway up the coast of Nordland, has a long climate record and is situated in a rural area with little or no urban heat island effect, and is used as an official climate reference station. Glomfjord here represents the current climate in coastal areas (summers usually slightly warmer, winters often significantly colder in the inland).

Research using sediment in lakes near the Okstind Glacier has shown that the summer climate in Nordland was up to 2.5 °C warmer 9,000 to 6,000 years ago, and then slowly cooled - it was 0.5 °C warmer 2,000 years before present (see Holocene climatic optimum.). This research also concluded that the eastern Okstind Glacier did not melt completely during this warm period, the first glacier in Norway known to have survived since the Ice age.

Climate statistics provided by Norwegian Meteorological Institute; 1961–1990 base period unless otherwise stated. Data for Glomfjord last 10 years by Storm Weather Center.