Winter Weather in Svolvær Norway

Daily high temperatures are around 37°F, rarely falling below 26°F or exceeding 46°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 35°F on February 18.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 4°F, from 31°F to 27°F, rarely falling below 17°F or exceeding 39°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 27°F on February 19.

For reference, on July 26, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Svolvær typically range from 51°F to 60°F, while on February 19, the coldest day of the year, they range from 27°F to 35°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average winter temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Sand Point, United States (3,899 miles away) and Kodiak, United States (3,708 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Svolvær (view comparison).

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The winter in Svolvær experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 75% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 77% on January 27.

The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 26% of the time.

For reference, on January 27, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 77%, while on June 6, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Svolvær, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 49% and ending it at 42%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 50% on October 20, and its lowest chance is 25% on June 4.

Over the course of the winter in Svolvær, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 34% to 22%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 11% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow increases from 5% to 8%.

Rainfall

To show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the winter in Svolvær is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 3.5 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.8 inches or falls below 1.1 inches, and ending the season at 2.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.2 inches or falls below 0.6 inches.

Snowfall

As with rainfall, we consider the snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day snowfall during the winter in Svolvær is increasing, starting the season at 4.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 10.2 inches or falls below 0.2 inches, and ending the season at 6.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 13.8 inches or falls below 1.4 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 7.7 inches on February 7.

Due to its extreme latitude, Svolvær experiences polar day (also known as the midnight Sun) during the summer and polar night during the winter. These are periods of time in which the sun is continuously above or below the horizon for more than one day. The precise start and end dates of polar day and night vary from year to year and depend on the precise location and elevation of the observer, and the local topography.

In the winter in Svolvær during 2024, the Sun is continuously below the horizon for 1.0 months, setting at 12:00 PM on December 6, and not rising again until 11:50 AM on January 6. As such, polar night begins and ends during the winter.

The longest day of the winter is February 28, with 9 hours, 39 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Svolvær is 11:55 AM on January 5 and the earliest sunrise is 4 hours, 30 minutes earlier at 7:25 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 12:00 PM on December 6 and the latest sunset is 5 hours, 5 minutes later at 5:04 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Svolvær during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during the winter, so the entire season is in daylight saving time.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the winter of 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Svolvær is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on July 27, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time, while on January 1, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Svolvær is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.4 miles per hour of 15.2 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 23, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 15.6 miles per hour, while on July 28, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.2 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 15.6 miles per hour on January 23.

The hourly average wind direction in Svolvær throughout the winter is predominantly from the south, with a peak proportion of 48% on February 28.

Svolvær is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in Svolvær is decreasing during the winter, falling by 5°F, from 44°F to 39°F, over the course of the season.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season in Svolvær typically lasts for 5.4 months (165 days), from around May 4 to around October 15, rarely starting before April 13 or after May 24, and rarely ending before September 24 or after November 10.

The winter in Svolvær is reliably fully outside of the growing season.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Svolvær are rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 485°F, from 485°F to 0°F, over the course of the season.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Svolvær is gradually increasing during the winter, rising by 0.6 kWh, from 0.0 kWh to 0.6 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 0.0 kWh on December 22.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Svolvær are 68.234 deg latitude, 14.568 deg longitude, and 7 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Svolvær contains large variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 2,031 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 219 feet. Within 10 miles contains large variations in elevation (3,455 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (4,465 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Svolvær is covered by water (60%) and sparse vegetation (16%), within 10 miles by water (54%) and sparse vegetation (16%), and within 50 miles by water (68%) and trees (11%).