I wonder whether the weather is something to worry about in Norway

The weather was an inevitable subject I had to speak about at some point. I was trying to wait a little while in order to have a clear picture of things generally. I now think I have seen enough of the varied weather patterns hear to give a fair reflection, I also had a request from an anonymous reader who was curious/worried about it. Well I hope this helps;

Firstly I must put this into context, I can only remark on the weather in Bergen in the western part of Norway  and only for the short time I have spent here. That is several weeks last summer, a couple of weeks at Christmas and then the last two and a half months.

Now with the disclaimer out the way lets get to the point, I would say the weather here is generally . . . as expected, if anything nicer. A little anti-climactic I know and I shall explain. Bergen is about the same distance from the equator as Scotland, seeing this on TV in the British weather forecast I knew largely what to expect and that was; a bit colder than most of England, a little wetter and some proper snow in the Winter. Both this summer and last have both been largely and most importantly relatively, very nice. From what I've seen from English people complaining, nicer than what they had, but then again nothing gives English people more pleasure than moaning about the weather. To take the comparison away from England and be more general I must say for many days it was over 20 degrees C, shorts were worn many times and we seemed to be having BBQs and eating outside nearly every day! Sure it was by no means tropical , one wouldn't suddenly think they have walked into Egypt, or even south of France. However it was very pleasant and I did pick up a nice tan. I must even confess that last year after several hours sun bathing without any protection my stupid English skin even got a little burnt!

So thats the summer, pretty good right? Nothing to worry about I'd say, well now for the other extreme, winter. I came over on December 26th Expecting meters of snow all around and the city to look like a cliché Christmas card. I had seen it in the sun and marvelled at its beauty and I was really looking forward to seeing it covered in white. I was however disappointed to say the least. Decent snow fall is common in Bergen as throughout large parts of Norway in the winter. Last year however it just wasn't quite cold enough and instead I just saw large amounts of rain. Occasional lashings of snow, but never settled and was always quickly washed away again. On the whole it was pretty cold. Around 5 degrees I guess. Again, not very far away from what I am used too and I would say very manageable. It might sound terrible if your used to tropical weather and having never lived in a hot country myself I wouldn't know what it is like but I would say its fine! Not ideal, but totally liveable, it wont stop you doing anything, just invest in some good weather fighting clothes!

I must also add that one day we travelled about an hour on a coach to go skiing and we found loads of snow. I was fascinated by how close it was. So ski enthusiasts, fear not, good snow is never far away in Norwegian winter time, even if it has failed to arrive on your doorstep. 

We are now entering Autumn in Bergen and this is obvious as it starts to rain a lot more. Bergen is famous for being insanely wet. Now as Autumn is the wettest season here and I have not been here during it I cant comment but so far I would agree that at times there is a lot of rain, and when it does rain it can be very aggressive. Yesterday for example I went out and it was stormy for a large part of the day and I was well soaked through. However the previous day had been lovely with a slight chill in the air but not a cloud in the sky and today has been cloudy but mostly dry.

So in summary of what I hope is a slightly useful summary for those wondering about the weather in this part of the world I would say Bergen is pretty unextreme all over and like many other parts of Europe. If you are fearing freezing temperatures most of the year then you are mistaken, that is left for the crazy people in the north.

Do however invest in an umbrella, just incase ;)

Last summer, me outside bryggen. Not a cloud in the sky

Skiing last winter just outside Bergen. It was actually very warm while skiing, although that didn't stop us enjoying some awesome hot chocolate while waiting for the bus home. Good times!