Weather & Climate in Svalbard

Weather and Climate in Svalbard

Though generally cold, the weather in Svalbard is actually milder than comparable places at the same latitude in the Arctic or the Antarctic. The average temperature over a year is only –4ºC "+25ºF". Average temperature for January is -16ºC "+3ºF", and in July it is +6ºC "43ºF". The northern arm of the Gulf Stream reaches the west coast of Svalbard. This brings a massive movement of relatively warm water and warm air from the south to Svalbard. At the same time this often creates sharp gradients in temperature, which lead to high wind speeds and rapidly changing weather. Fog is quite common during the summer, since the land is often substantially cooler than the surrounding seas. Though the relative humidity at such times can be high, the air this far north is generally so cold that it can hold very little moisture. This leads to very little precipitation falling in these regions. Large parts of Svalbard can therefore be described as being "arctic desert".

Longyearbyen has midnight sun from April 20th to August 23rd. The sun here is under the horizon from October 26th to February 16th. Since the sun's rays curve through the atmosphere, the time with midnight sun is somewhat longer than the time of darkness. Since sunlight is reflected in the sky, it isn't actually all that dark until the sun is more than 6º under the horizon. The real "Polar Night" (i.e. 24 hours of complete darkness) is therefore only experienced in Longyearbyen between November 14th and January 29th.

The sun is seen as having a flat orbit at the North Pole. In Longyearbyen at mid-summer the sun is positioned about 35º above the horizon during the day and about 11º at night. At mid-winter the sun is at the most 11º under the horizon at mid-day. The moons orbit lies about in the same plane as the Earth's orbit around the sun. During the winter the full moon therefore behaves like the sun does during the summer – it shines all day and all night. On the other hand we don't see the new moon at all during the winter. During the summer the situation is the opposite. Then the full moon is under the horizon. The winter darkness is often brightened by the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis).

To check the current weather condition of Svalbard please click here

MORE AFFORDABLE HOTELS IN SVALBARD