Sametinget in Karasjok

This article is part of the series “2025-02: Finnmark”.

Sametinget – the Sámi Parliament of Norway is in Karasjok, where Annika and I stayed overnight last night. Yesterday we spent some time in the library and we were lucky to get a short private guided tour to the plenary hall. It was so interesting that we decided to join a longer guided tour today. We could not only visit this incredibly beautiful building (wow, what a workplace!) but also learn more about the parliament itself and ask some questions. Thank you, A. for your time.

Some photos from the inside:

Sametinget in Karasjok – library IISametinget in Karasjok – library ISametinget in Karasjok – proverbsSametinget in Karasjok – plenary hall ISametinget in Karasjok – plenary hall II

If anyone is interested and can understand Norwegian (or one of the Sámi languages), the parliament meetings are broadcasted on the website of the Sámi Parliament of Norway: sametinget.no

Finnmark birches

This article is part of the series “2025-02: Finnmark”.

Yesterday Annika and I continued our travel from Alta to Karasjok, part of the Norwegian Finnmark. I connect this landscape with birches and snowy hills. Especially by the rivers it often looks like this:

Finnmark birches IFinnmark birches II

You may think, this looks quite desolate, but I love the simplicity landscape. I find it much less desolate than the wet and ice snow free meadows that we passed the day before. Sign of a winter that has been much too warm (and still is).

The lower parts by the sea are often free of snow – in the end of February!

The rivers however can be quite beautiful, when they are partly frozen and snowy and partly open. This is the river Kárášjohka where the road 92 crosses it.

Kárášjohka

Lyngen mountains

This article is part of the series “2025-02: Finnmark”.

Two days ago – Annika and I have started our journey through the Finnmark and Finnish Lapland. The first stop is in Breivikeidet, where we wait for the ferry to the Lyngen peninsula. Despite the pretty depressing weather forecast we get a bit of sun which makes the steep and rugged mountains of the Lyngen Alps looking even more impressive. Today I edited some of the photos, making them monochrome.

Lyngen mountains ILyngen mountains IILyngen mountains IIILyngen mountains IV

Skiing home from work

Finally it got more wintry the last days and especially today it snowed quite a lot. After work I took the bus to the lake Prestvannet where Annika and I met. From there we skied most of the way home and then walked the rest in the streets.

The skiing took quite some time because snow was warm and so sticky that it glued itself to the skis in thick layers again and again. Anyhow we enjoyed being outdoors and sharing this winter afternoon. It was the very first time that I used skis to get home after my work at the Norwegian Polar Institute, but definitely not the last time.

Warm afternoon lightSnowy birchesFollowing a small pathSkiløypeAnother snow showerThe church Grønnåsen Kirke – end of skiing

At home another outdoor activity awaited me: clearing snow in front of my apartment. 25 cm of fresh snow had fallen – surprisingly fluffy for the warm temperatures. Of course the snowplough passed after I had finished. Well, I’ll do that tomorrow …

This night more snow will come but then according to the forecast it will turn more and more into sleet and rain, because another warm period awaits us. Strange winter this year.

Back to winter …

The last days it got colder and new snow arrived. Now everything is white and wintry again. Alas, the next period with warm weather and rain is less than a week away, when the forecast is correct.

Some photos from a very short promenade to the ski jump – with active ongoing training – and Skihytta today.

snowy-forestski-jumping-1ski-jumping-2outside-of-skihytta

 

Wretched, wet, windy winter weather

If you are like me and love white winters with a lot of snow and clear sky – stop reading. The weather in Tromsø the last weeks was mostly miserable. We had hardly any frost days and most precipitation came as rain. A lot of rain. And it was windy. Yes, we had winds.

There is still round about 45 cm of snow, but it is wet, icy and has a lot of holes. It’s ugly and hard to walk on.

So it looked like today when I was walking home from the bus stop Prestvannet:

Way home I – Framsenteret – our officeWay home II – Tromsø DomkirkeWay home III – icy pathWay home IVWay home V – wet pathWay home VI – the lake PrestvannetWay home VII – by the lake PrestvannetWay home VIIIWay home IX – under the snowWay home X – dark forestWay home XIWay home XII – TromsøbadetWay home XIII – icy ski trackWay home XIVWay home XV – crossing the E8Way home XVI – almost there

Luckily it looks like that a colder period starts tomorrow and we even may get some fresh snow until the end of the week.

Strange clouds

When I woke up today at 7 o’clock half the sky was red. It was still dark enough for stars being visible and I considered whether this could be some strange sort of polar light.

When I walked to the ski jump it has become less dark and it was clear, that the colours come from the light of the sun rise (09:17 today). Anyhow there must have been some strange clouds up in the sky reflecting the light of a sun still being 8° below the horizon. Even the snowy mountains were crimson red.

The sky 100 minutes before sunrise

When I took a hike with a friend on the frozen snow near Tønsvik my eyes caught another special cloud phenomenon. These pale clouds were colourful due to diffraction. The effect was weak and delicate and so the photo looks a bit boring. No reason to now show it anyhow ;-)

Cloud iridescence at noon

It is 8 o’clock. The sky is clear and I can see Mars, Jupiter, Moon and Venus in the starry sky. In the north there is a very faint polar light.Will it develop? I’ll check until I’ll go to sleep.

The sun is back in Tromsø

Today I saw the sun for the first time this year. Polar night in Tromsø has already ended one week ago but it always takes some days until it rises over the mountains. Yesterday it was cloudy but today was the day. Welcome back, sun.

The sun is back.

This is a shot by mobile phone. I may have taken better photos with my small Sony camera but I forgot it in the office.

Night walk

Night walk in Tromsø

Yes, yesterday afternoon the snow came back. And since I was awake at night and ten to fifteen centimetres of fresh snow covered the ground – the roads had already been cleared – I took a small night walk. Ski jump – the pond with the lifebuoy – the ski cabin and back. So much nicer (and easier to walk) than this weeks slippery roads.

(Photographers note: I edited this photo more than usual, made it black and white and then colourised it.)

Rain, rain, rain

It was so beautiful in the weekend when Tromsø got half a metre of fresh snow. Already on Monday it got warm and it started raining. Since then it has been above zero with a lot of rain of all kinds. Drizzle, steady rain, downpour. Snow became sleet, the roads and footpaths became very icy and roof avalanches tried to hit my car with wet snow.

Slushy roadsWet snow by the street left by the ploughRoof avalanche in front of my apartmentA very icy footpath

While it continued raining first the larger roads became free of ice and snow and then even many smaller ones. More than half of the snow has melted away. What a shame! Anyhow, if yr is correct we get new snow on Sunday and colder weather next week. That would be much appreciated by a winter lover like me.

Tromsø today – near workTromsø today –near my apartment

Data from the Norwegian weather service yr:

Date Snow depth at 0:00 CET Rain fall
2025-01-13 124.0 cm 26.7 mm
2025-01-14 94.8 cm 23.0 mm
2025-01-15 88.6 cm 0.2 mm
2025-01-16 72.5 cm 34.9 mm
2025-01-17 64.1 cm 13.9 mm
2025-01-18 55.0 cm

(Source: www.yr.no/nb/historikk/graf/5-90450)