You want spring? Go to the left.
You want winter? Go to the right.
This may be exaggerated a bit, but in the spring winter season you really can have both. Spring feelings by the shore and winter as soon you leave shore and gain a bit of altitude. Yesterday I took the first two photos near Tromsø airport, The other two photos I took today, when Annika and I were skiing with a friend in the valley Tønsvikdalen.
Saturday morning my car was covered with frost. But don’t be fooled by the photo, because winter in Tromsø is gone and in the lower parts of the city the wild flowers tussilago bloom everywhere together with planted flowers such as crocuses or scillas. The first butterflies and bumblebees fly from blossom to blossom and winter seems to be just a memory.
Yesterday my wife Annika and I went on a trip to Kvaløya.
With the flowers in mind I am surprised to see a thin layer of ice on the sea at the bay at Eidkjosen.
We take the road 862 to Sommarøya through the valley Kattfjorddalen. Although the elevation is only 150 metres, it is still winter here although the edge of the lake Kattfjordvatnet starts to melt. We see many cars with kayaks passing by while most cars parking here belong to ski tourers.
We park our car before the tunnel and walk along some sandy beaches. The sun is warm enough that we walk back in T-Shirts. On one of the hills I spot another flower that uses to bloom quite early – the purple saxifrage, one of the northernmost plants in the world.
Next stop is Sommarøya were we take a short circular tour. Beside of some patches all snow is gone. On the water there are large flocks of common eiders – you can hear them from everywhere.
Back again through Kattfjorddalen. Some skiers return, others just start their tour, while tourists are standing around enjoying the scenery which is probably very exotic to many of them.
We turn left and head to Tromvik to visit the café Søstrene Kafè. It is quite a detour but it is worth it – both for the scenery and the café. And yes – I like the harbour, too.
Finally I take a detour by car to the village Rekvik. The road is pretty rough, but again the scenery is awesome.
From here it is 53 km home. I drive back without further stops. We have seen a lot and it is fair to call the tour “Norway in a nutshell”. Only the mammals were missing. No reindeer, no seals and no otters.
Note: the text is just a draft. I publish the article anyway and will polish it later.
The meteorological station Tromsø (Vervarslinga) measured the following snow depths yesterday:
| Time | Snow depth [cm] |
|---|---|
| 2026-04-18 17:00 | 1.0 |
| 2026-04-18 18:00 | 0.0 |
Thus, yesterday was the last day with snow cover at Tromsø (Vervarslinga) this year. Let’s compare the values with previous years:
| Year | Snow depth 18 April 18:00 | First day with 0 cm of snow at 18:00 | Difference in days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 72.9 | 2025-05-18 | 30 |
| 2024 | 71.0 | 2024-05-10 | 22 |
| 2023 | 87.1 | 2023-05-15 | 27 |
| 2022 | 45.5 | 2022-05-18 | 30 |
| 2021 | 82.7 | 2021-05-20 | 32 |
| 2020 | 157.0 | 2020-06-01 | 44 |
Based on the median values from the data above, around 78 cm of snow should have covered the ground at Vervarslinga yesterday, and snow should have remained for another 30 days. I also checked older data and couldn’t find a single 18 April that was without snow at Vervarslinga within the last 50 years.
That doesn’t mean that all the snow on Tromsøya is gone. Tromsø Vervarslinga is just a single station, but it illustrates how unusually early the snow has melted this year.
This morning I took a walk through the Tromsømarka on top of the island. As you can see, the snow varies. Some forested hills are completely bare of snow, while some boggy places still look wintry, and the lakes and ponds are covered with ice.
The second photo is typical. In winter, cross-country skiing is extremely popular. So popular that countless skiers compact the snow. As a result, it melts more slowly and so you can see “snow lanes” that cross the snow-free ground at this time of the year.
Another typical feature is the contrast: In one spot, thousands of tussilago are blooming while a hundred metres away in the shadow there is still ice on the water puddles.
What I am really curious about this year is the birch trees: will they get their leaves earlier or as usual?
When I wrote about the unusually early snowmelt in Tromsø a week ago, I was almost sure that new snow might come soon. I guessed right. Already on Thursday evening, it starts to snow. The next morning, the roads are white and the tussilago flowers are stuck in the snow.
On Saturday morning it is winter again. About 15 cm of snow have fallen; it is -1 °C and it is still snowing heavily.
I take the car on the gravel road to the ski jump, which feels pretty adventurous although the iPhone photo below is exaggerating.
None of the thousands of tussilago flowers is visible anymore on the turning area, they are all under the snow. And the small pond with the ski jump in the background looks like winter has never been absent.
Later that day I make a car trip with a friend. We visit the same beach as my wife Annika and I did two weeks earlier. The first photo is from 12 April; the second from 25 April, which was yesterday.
The common cowslip peeks out from the snow while the pillows of purple saxifrage that were in bloom two weeks ago are buried deeply under the fresh snow.
This snow, however, won’t live long. Parts already have melted away and even if it may snow again tomorrow, the rain expected later will melt it all away. And that’s more than ok, because I have put away my skis and now I’m looking forward to some hiking tours, first some hills, and later some mountains.
Yesterday I finally got back to paddling in Tromsø. I had already paddled once this year, on 2 January, more than three months ago. Because of the holiday the next day the traditional torsdagspadling (Thursday paddling) was moved to Wednesday. We were a group of seven, three of them tour guides. The weather was anything but friendly. It rained and it was pretty windy.
Shortly before 18:00, we started our tour to Telegrafbukta in the south.
On the way there we had strong headwinds that slowed us down a lot. Sometimes I felt like my kayak was anchored. I tried to push forward but when I looked at the shore I realized how slow we were. The distance of about 4 km took us 90 minutes, including seeking shelter twice to check on everyone.
Finally, the wooden pier came into view. From there it is not far to Telegrafbukta, I know, but yesterday it seemed to take ages until I got there.
We all turned left into the bay where we landed at low tide. We pulled or carried the kayaks higher up and took a break. Time to drink something and share some chocolate.
It wasn’t a long break because we were all wet and it was cold. A 3 °C air temperature and the wind resulted in a sub-zero wind chill. Even I, who had taken my insulated sailing parka with me, was cold.
The way back was completely different. Not only is it nice when the rain comes from behind, but also our kayaks were pushed back and we could paddle back quite effortlessly. I was nearer to land than the others, which gave me some nasty waves. One of them almost capsized me, because I reacted too slowly to take any countermeasure. I was lucky and could keep my balance.
Once we were back on land, we helped each other put the kayaks back into the boathouses, then I drove home, still wearing my dry suit and longing for a hot shower. I got it. After that I fired the wood stove in the living room that I rarely use, but which is a perfect thing to have after such an exhausting and soaking wet kayak tour.
As always, did I regret having been outdoors? Even with today’s aching muscles and stiffness I can answer: Not at all! I’m looking forward to the next time.
Takk for turen – thanks for the trip!