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It has snowed 50 cm over the past three days, bringing our total up to this:
Yesterday was the third warmest day on record up here, reaching 28C at the meteorology institute and breaking 30C several places :) (Unfortunately one of those places was the store I work in, which is where I spent half the day yesterday. I went to work in jeans, but after three hours I felt compelled to go buy a skirt to wear instead)
It's not that I mind the usual summer weather - anything above 15C is nice, and 20C is great - but walking around yesterday without feeling any desire for long sleeves, seeing the heat haze on the horizon (even the growing rainclouds), being able to stand barefoot outside our door and feel warmth radiate from the concrete under my feet...
It was awesome.
It's not that I mind the usual summer weather - anything above 15C is nice, and 20C is great - but walking around yesterday without feeling any desire for long sleeves, seeing the heat haze on the horizon (even the growing rainclouds), being able to stand barefoot outside our door and feel warmth radiate from the concrete under my feet...
It was awesome.
Autumn started at least a week ago. It's been cool but sunny these past few days, which makes a nice change from slightly less cool but rainy, which is what we pretty much had all 'summer'. The sky looks like autumn, and the leaves are turning. I like autumn up here, so I'm fine with that.
Blueberry season's been ruined by the weather, though, just like a number of agricultural harvests. We went uphill last weekend to look for berries and found at least half were rotting on the plants.
Blueberry season's been ruined by the weather, though, just like a number of agricultural harvests. We went uphill last weekend to look for berries and found at least half were rotting on the plants.
I looked at the weather report yesterday and saw an article claiming the north (aka here) would get the best weather this week. It started out: 'Your vacation's over? Don't stow away your swimwear, at least not if you live in the north' and continued to claim we'd get nice weather this week.
Thing is, this summer never really attained 'summer' status, much less 'swimming' weather. We had two whole days that managed to breach 20 C.
It is 6 C outside right now, it's windy and rainy, and it snowed on the mountains two days ago, but at least I am amused :)
Thing is, this summer never really attained 'summer' status, much less 'swimming' weather. We had two whole days that managed to breach 20 C.
It is 6 C outside right now, it's windy and rainy, and it snowed on the mountains two days ago, but at least I am amused :)
It's a really beautiful morning today. The sun is playing with the clouds (which I expect to dissolve before long), the air smells fresh, and it's mild.
We're expected to get a very nice warm weekend, with this place having some of the nicest and warmest weather in the country on May 17th. This, of course, made it extra amusing to read the national newspapers yesterday, as they lamented that the May 17th forecast was cold and wet weather :)
(We'll get a taste of both, as take 2 on this year's vacation starts the afternoon of May 17th. We'll spend a night in Oslo before continuing onwards, and hopefully it'll go better than last Monday did.)
We're expected to get a very nice warm weekend, with this place having some of the nicest and warmest weather in the country on May 17th. This, of course, made it extra amusing to read the national newspapers yesterday, as they lamented that the May 17th forecast was cold and wet weather :)
(We'll get a taste of both, as take 2 on this year's vacation starts the afternoon of May 17th. We'll spend a night in Oslo before continuing onwards, and hopefully it'll go better than last Monday did.)
There was a blurb in the national newspaper the other day about how 'yes, spring should be just around the corner, but...' and I thought to myself, 'Spring? But the snow's just started to get down to business.' I took it as a sign that I've started to acclimatize to this place (which has two winters: dark winter in november-january followed by snow winter in february-april/may, as opposed to where I am from where yes, spring and flowers usually starts in march)
One nice thing about living here at this time of year, even with my lack of fondness for snow, is that when I leave work in the afternoon, every day is just tangibly brighter than the day before. Over the past weeks, it's gone from night to dark twilight to brighter twilight to sunset colours. I'll lose the effect around the time daylight savings start, because by the the sun will still be up when I leave work, and I'll be missing the process until autumn, when the reverse pattern happens (there's less snow then, though).
One nice thing about living here at this time of year, even with my lack of fondness for snow, is that when I leave work in the afternoon, every day is just tangibly brighter than the day before. Over the past weeks, it's gone from night to dark twilight to brighter twilight to sunset colours. I'll lose the effect around the time daylight savings start, because by the the sun will still be up when I leave work, and I'll be missing the process until autumn, when the reverse pattern happens (there's less snow then, though).
Two days ago: temperatures just below freezing. Cloudy but fairly pleasant.
Yesterday: temperatures around 5 C, pouring rain, streets turning into very wet skating rinks.
Today: temperatures around -5 C, and there's fresh snow on top of aforementioned skating rink.
If I am very lucky, the snow started before the water on top of the ice fully froze, so the ice will be rough. If not, I'll have a very interesting time getting to the bus stop today.
Yesterday: temperatures around 5 C, pouring rain, streets turning into very wet skating rinks.
Today: temperatures around -5 C, and there's fresh snow on top of aforementioned skating rink.
If I am very lucky, the snow started before the water on top of the ice fully froze, so the ice will be rough. If not, I'll have a very interesting time getting to the bus stop today.
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Today, I learned why the national newspapers and some major weather websites have a tendency to consistently predict temperatures well below what we actually get here in their forecasts for the week ahead.
It's because they get their data from England, which is based on temperatures in a 25 km grid of points.
The closest point to this town is about 20 km inland, in an area known to be a cold sink :)
(On monday, the forecast suggested around -20C here this weekend, 2C below the historical record of -18C. Instead, we're hovering around -10C.)
It's because they get their data from England, which is based on temperatures in a 25 km grid of points.
The closest point to this town is about 20 km inland, in an area known to be a cold sink :)
(On monday, the forecast suggested around -20C here this weekend, 2C below the historical record of -18C. Instead, we're hovering around -10C.)
We're getting hit by a winter storm significant enough to get a name (Ask) today.
Weather statistics of impending DOOM
This morning, when I looked out the window, there was a gap in the lower cloud layer near the highest mountain. The gap remained there for at least two more hours while the clouds rolled around it.
I'm a little worried that I might not get home tonight, as they'll close the bridge if it gets too windy, but I do intend to try to leave relatively early, as the wind is expeected to peak around 6 pm.
A definite sign that Something Is Up: The wind gauge on this side of the bridge has been showing 0 m/s the past few weeks. This morning, they had a crew out to repair it (the other gauge showed 13 m/s at the time. If it gets much higher, signals on the gauges start blinking to alert people, and I suspect that they'll also be used to alert people should the bridge have to be closed. In other words, they are very nice things to have operational today :)
Weather statistics of impending DOOM
This morning, when I looked out the window, there was a gap in the lower cloud layer near the highest mountain. The gap remained there for at least two more hours while the clouds rolled around it.
I'm a little worried that I might not get home tonight, as they'll close the bridge if it gets too windy, but I do intend to try to leave relatively early, as the wind is expeected to peak around 6 pm.
A definite sign that Something Is Up: The wind gauge on this side of the bridge has been showing 0 m/s the past few weeks. This morning, they had a crew out to repair it (the other gauge showed 13 m/s at the time. If it gets much higher, signals on the gauges start blinking to alert people, and I suspect that they'll also be used to alert people should the bridge have to be closed. In other words, they are very nice things to have operational today :)
There's sunlight playing on the wall in my kitchen as I type :)
We've had stable, cold weather with clear skies, no wind, and temperatures just below freezing for the past five days or so. As a result, the frost on the ground has built to the point where it looks like snow, and I saw the vehicles they use at the airport to remove snow from the runway out in force yesterday. In undisturbed places, the frost forms some rather large feathers. It's nice :)
Sun says goodbye for the winter in ten days or so, so I'm doing my best to enjoy it while it lasts.
Sun says goodbye for the winter in ten days or so, so I'm doing my best to enjoy it while it lasts.
Last night, around midnight, the skies cleared up and then broke out the aurora for me. It was the best batch I've seen in a while, with a lot of green twists and ripples across the entire sky, and the part that changed the most in brightness and shape was just overhead. A gibbous moon hanging just above the mountains to the southwest completed the picture :)
Yesterday, after first a week of snow and then a week of rain, we finally got clear skies again, and I was treated to a beautiful morning sky with just a few clouds hanging out over the mountaintops (and they did an excellent job of catching the early sunrise colours).
Today, there are no clouds to speak of, and Venus is hanging above the mountaintops instead. First sighting since last winter :)
Today, there are no clouds to speak of, and Venus is hanging above the mountaintops instead. First sighting since last winter :)
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Today brought the first snowfall worth mentioning. The peaks are capped in white above 400-600 meters, and have stayed so throughout the day - the snow line actually crept downhill from morning to evening. Temperature where we live is about 4 C at the moment.
In other news, I was not the only one who got into their head to join a certain political party after the elections. Over 1300 others have done the same thing :)
In other news, I was not the only one who got into their head to join a certain political party after the elections. Over 1300 others have done the same thing :)
My younger brother visited us for the weekend of July 25th. July 25th was supposed to be the day the sun finally set again, so we drove to a place on the outside of Kvaløy that had a clear view to the north, and sat down to watch (it was a very pleasant night, with the temperature just barely dipping below 20 C).
( The following ensued: )
Why this happenend?
Sunset times tend to be listed as when the center of the sun sets, not when the entire disc is out of sight. If we had had time the following day (which we didn't, as I needed sleep before my work week) we would have seen it actually set.
For as long as I have lived here, I've not thought of the midnight sun as anything but a sleep preventer - after all, most of the time it just looks like the daytime sun - but I have wanted to see it set and rise like this. While I didn't quite get to see it set, this is pretty much what I've wanted to see for four years :)
( The following ensued: )
Why this happenend?
Sunset times tend to be listed as when the center of the sun sets, not when the entire disc is out of sight. If we had had time the following day (which we didn't, as I needed sleep before my work week) we would have seen it actually set.
For as long as I have lived here, I've not thought of the midnight sun as anything but a sleep preventer - after all, most of the time it just looks like the daytime sun - but I have wanted to see it set and rise like this. While I didn't quite get to see it set, this is pretty much what I've wanted to see for four years :)
Ever since moving from the West coast to north of the Arctic Circle, I've been even more amused than before by what the two national newspapers (both printed in Oslo) write about the weather.
The thing is, due to the length of the country, the weather systems that do one thing in one part will usually do something entirely different in another. A high pressure that gives great weather down south will give cold winds from the north pole here, and high pressures that give us great weather will drag a ton of rain over the south.
This is usually ignored by the papers, who will write that everyone is having a great summer, or everyone is having a miserable summer. For instance, in June they were writing about heat records being set in the entire country, and how to enjoy the weather (the northernmost record was set in Røros, not even half way up). During that time, we had quite a bit of rain, and temperatures around 10 C. The past couple weeks, the same papers have been writing about how to endure the dreary and miserable weather - during which we've had a two week heatwave.
On friday, the papers were reporting the sun was going to return down south, but also claimed the entire country would get sunny weather. I saw that, and said that meant our heatwave and sunshine would end this weekend. I can now look out the window at the pouring rain and 15 C temperature, and feel very smug :)
The thing is, due to the length of the country, the weather systems that do one thing in one part will usually do something entirely different in another. A high pressure that gives great weather down south will give cold winds from the north pole here, and high pressures that give us great weather will drag a ton of rain over the south.
This is usually ignored by the papers, who will write that everyone is having a great summer, or everyone is having a miserable summer. For instance, in June they were writing about heat records being set in the entire country, and how to enjoy the weather (the northernmost record was set in Røros, not even half way up). During that time, we had quite a bit of rain, and temperatures around 10 C. The past couple weeks, the same papers have been writing about how to endure the dreary and miserable weather - during which we've had a two week heatwave.
On friday, the papers were reporting the sun was going to return down south, but also claimed the entire country would get sunny weather. I saw that, and said that meant our heatwave and sunshine would end this weekend. I can now look out the window at the pouring rain and 15 C temperature, and feel very smug :)
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