Norway Weather

Best Season & Best time to visit Norway

Norway, located in the far reaches of northern Europe, is a large country with many varying climates. A large part of the country lies in the Arctic Circle. From hot summers to year round snow and ice; from 24 hour dimness to the midnight sun, Norway’s climate really is a blend of extremes. The country sees four distinct seasons and differences in summer and winter temperatures and daylight hours are vast. There are many different microclimates found in this huge and wild country: from the wet and mild west coast, to the hoary inland mountains, to the Arctic north, to the humid and dry summers of the south-east.

Norway’s weather is astonishingly temperate for its northerly latitude. This is thanks to the warming effects of the Gulf torrent, a warm current that comes across the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico. The effects are felt all alongside Norway’s vast 2500km long west coast. Even the coastal region lying in the Arctic Circle is free of ice in winter. Inland, however it gets much colder and there are places with year round snow as well as many glaciers. Norway is a very hilly country which leads to great climatic fluctuation. One of the most obvious affects, apart the difference in temperature that arise at higher altitudes, is the effect on rain. The west coast bears the impact of the Atlantic weather systems and some areas can receive up to 3000mm of rainfall annually.