Snow depth = 0 Apr 19 2026

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

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.

Average snow depths Tromsø Vervarslinga18 April per year (source: frost.met.no)

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?

Early spring in Tromsø Apr 13 2026

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.

Saxifraga oppositifolia – purple saxifrage

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.

Ice, ice, spring, ice and snow Mar 1 2026

It is mid-February in Obbola in Sweden. Dear friends are visiting us. The Baltic Sea is frozen. On the ice there is a layer of snow. On 16 February we walk from our house to and across the sea ice to a nearby beach. Three days later we do the same with skis.

Three days later I see the sea from above, because Annika and I are visiting part of my family in Augsburg in Germany. 100% sea ice coverage in the northern Baltic Sea, open water near Stockholm.

Augsburg is a striking contrast. First, it chilly and rainy, but then it gets warm. On our last day we are sitting outside for lunch, enjoying the warm sun while bees and bumblebees are visiting the thousands of spring flowers. It’s like another world!

Two days later we fly back the same way. The sea ice is segmented by many shipping lanes. I can even spot one of the Swedish icebreakers – probably the vessel Ymer – which keeps these channels free of ice during the winter.

In the afternoon we are home again in our house by the sea in Obbola.

However we are not here for long. For the next two weeks we will be on our backcountry skis, first in Finnish Lapland, then in Swedish Lapland.

Travelling through worlds Jun 7 2025

Some of you may know, that I live in two places. In Tromsø in Norway, my “work home” and in Obbola in Sweden, my “home home”. Travelling is not so easy, since the distance is 940 km by car. Normally I take the bus Tromsø—Narvik and then the train Narvik—Umeå, but I happens frequently, that the Swedish train does not operate this route. Yesterday for example I took the plane. It’s like travelling through different worlds.

Tromsø

Friday 11:00 – I am taking a promenade in the forests nearby. While the snow in the forests will soon be soon, the mountains will stay white much longer.

Airplane

Friday 17:00 – I am sitting in the airplane to Stockholm, now watching the snowy mountains from above until it gets cloudy below.

Airport Arlanda

Friday 21:00 – I am waiting for my plane to Umeå, one of the last planes for today. Less and less people are present and the shops are closing.

Obbola

Saturday 08:00 – I am home home. Compared to Tromsø everything is much greener . The weather is rainy and everything outside is soaking wet.

4th June – the snow in the front garden is gone Jun 4 2025

This is a photo from 28th April:

This a photo from yesterday, 3rd June:

Both photos show the same motive. The house where I have my apartment with its front garden. The bush in the front garden in about five metres high. In winter I could touch the top of the bush with my fingers, today the last remaining snow has melted away while I was working.

No, we didn’t have three metres of snow in Tromsø last winter. The maximum was “only” 120 cm. But my landlord and I use the front garden as a snow tip and so the amount of snow we put there accumulates in the wintertime. In spring it takes some extra weeks to melt.

And so it looks like if you step into the snow in front of the snow shovel and hop up and down several times …

Now I’m longing for summer but secretly I’m already looking forward to the next winter and the first snow ;-)

It’s June in Tromsø Jun 1 2025

After a week in my hometown Bremen in Germany I returned to Tromsø yesterday. This morning I took a tour through the nature of the northern island. The landscape is mostly wooded hills, with a few bogs and lakes dotted around. I was curious about two things: how much snow is left and have the birch trees got their leaves?

More and more snow is gone. However some of the forest floor is still covered with dirty snow, sometimes up to half a metre and more.

You can still see last winter’s cross-country ski trails. The pressure of many thousand skiers has squeezed the snow making it more compact. Like white ribbons, these paths wind their way through the forest.

Other paths give no hint that winter ever touched that place.

The moorland with its spongy ground is completely clear of snow. And so are the lakes.

However, although it is already 1st of June the colours look more like late October. But if you look a bit closer you see the signs of springs such as the blooming marsh-marigold and the birch leaves that finally start to grow and unfold on some of the trees.

Fremdriftstak May 23 2025

Monday 19 May

On Monday I joined a kayak training on fremdriftstak. That’s Norwegian for forward stroke, the most basic kayak stroke. We had two experienced trainers, one for the euro paddle, one for the Greenland paddle. I joined the euro paddle group and learned some new details that hopefully will help me kayaking a bit more effortlessly in the future. The weather was a mixture of sun and clouds and the last hour it rained. Doesn’t matter, we are fully waterproofed when on the sea anyhow.

Thursday 22 May

Yesterday was the regular Thursday paddling with eighteen eager kayakers and fantastic spring weather. I joined the group kayaking to the island Grindøya as the week before. While the tour leaders told us about their plans and checked, that we all know the basic communication signs, the colourful kayaks had already been brought to the shore.

My own kayak is in Sweden so I always rent a kayak from the kayak club. A good opportunity to finally test another model. I had used the same on Monday, now I checked it a bit again while waiting for the others to join.

The boat houses of the kayak club Tromsø havpadleklubb

We paddled to “Monsterbygget” – a large cuboid building that is one of the favourite orientation marks for kayakers. There we split and our group of eleven headed west to the island Grindøya.

It is round 2.5 kilometres to the southern tip of the island. A good opportunity to recap my learning from the Monday training. It went well but it will take time until it is in the muscle memory. At the small bay with the sandy beach we parked our kayaks. This is one of the two locations where you may enter the island during the bird breeding season. Time for a break, enjoying the sun, drinking water and eating chocolate.

Kayaks at the beach of Store Grindøya II

On our way back we paddled along the western shore of the island. We saw a lot of eider ducks and other sea birds that I cannot name. After two kilometres we had passed the northern tip and were heading back to Tromsøya crossing the strait Sandnessundet.

This is a great season for paddling, especially on such a sunny day. The coast is green, the sea is blue (and very cold) and the mountains are still covered with snow.

In the south we could spot a ship. Where will it go? We decided to wait. The ship was sailing along the strait and since ships are not only much bigger than us but also much faster we decided to paddle back a bit and then to a sea mark north to wait for the ship to pass.

First the ship’s movements were hardly visible but when it approached it seemed to become faster and faster. While it was passing we spotted another ship in the distance, this time in the south and decided to cross the strait instantly. I took two photos, then I had to keep up and since we wanted to cross the strait quickly I didn’t make any further photos.

At half past nine we were back at the boat houses. Takk for turen – thanks for the tour!

Today

I’m proud. I paddled 11.3 km yesterday and I don’t have any pain in my right arm as occasionally after other tours. Just for that the training on fremdriftstak this Monday was a full success. Thanks, B. for your tipps and advice.

These are the two recorded tracks from kayaking to Grindøya. The first one from last week, the second one from yesterday.

The snow is melting May 14 2025

Fifteen days ago: 98 cm of snow in Tromsø, measured at an elevation of 100 metres. Yesterday – two weeks later – 31 cm of snow are left. And so my walk home also looked like. Somewhere between the winter still hesitating but spring approaching anyhow.

Tomorrow the summer working hours start and till September I’ll have to work only seven hours a day. Yay!

The following day my car will get summer tyres.

And on Sunday – four days from now – the time of the polar days start where the sun won’t set before 26 July.

The first Thursday paddling in Tromsø 2025 May 8 2025

Two promenades on Tromsøya Apr 25 2025

Easter Monday – from Sydspissen to home

On Easter Monday we got surprisingly fine weather in Tromsø. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. I took the bus to Sydspissen – the southern tip of Tromsøya – because it has been ages since I’ve been there. A lot of snow has melted away and tussilago was blooming everywhere. I passed the beach at Telegrafbukta and the pier at Folkeparken came into view. I know the this area well, because I lived nearby for quite some time.

I went on, enjoying the sun and ignoring the chilly wind. Don’t let your eyes fool you, the max temperature was about +2 °C. I passed the old boat house Engenesnaustet, saw a lonely winter kayaker and passed the small lighthouse.

I was not alone. A lot of other people took the holiday to take a promenade, sit side by side or do some barbecuing. I took the liberty to remove some people from the photos.

I wondered if the old, abandoned boathouse was still open? It was. A bit away from the shore there was some leftover snow. The tussilago flowers didn’t care, they were blooming anyhow.

Now it was not far away to the boat houses of the two kayak clubs in Tromsø. TSI Trulle and Tromsø Havpadleklubb. Here I start all my kayak tours in Tromsø, because my own kayak is in Obbola in Swede, so I use to hire one here. Season has just started and I want to paddle a lot this year!

At the bus stop Giæverbukta I missed my bus. 28 minutes of waiting or two kilometres of walking? Easy decision: I walked.

It was fascinating that the coast was mostly free of snow, while MET, the meteorological institute inside the island measured a snow depth of about 80 cm that day. At an elevation of 100 metres. And so the walk became snowy in the end. But spring showed up here as well: some willows had started to bloom.

Intermezzo – more snow

Yesterday afternoon it started snowing. Some snow showers were pretty dense. And sometimes I got one of my favourite weathers: snow flurry and sun at the same time. So beautiful. I tried to take pictures but the result became quite ugly, because the snow against the camera looks dark.

This morning ten more centimetres of snow have fallen, even in the lowland areas. All Scilla flowers in the centre were covered in snow and for the photo I had to look to find some flowers not being completely buried.

Friday (today) – from Prestvannet to home

I use to walk home twice a week after work. Then I take the bus to the lake Prestvannet to skip the boring (and steep) parts. Today I do the same. Additional snow showers have increased the snow depth to 92 cm, but it has started clearing up, when I begin my way home at 15:00. The fresh snow gives the lake an untouched appearance and the first lifebuoy is snowed over almost completely. Could it be January? No, the light is different.

I follow the ski trail a bit then I follow the smaller paths. They have hardly been used today, mostly by a single skier or pedestrian.

But then I come to an area where the snowy paths are completely untouched. No one has used them today. Imagine that: You are on a island with 43000 inhabitants. Many of them are enthusiastic skiers and outdoor maniacs. It is Friday afternoon and the sun is shining. And I trudge through 15 cm of untouched fresh snow. This is absolutely brilliant; I’ve never experienced anything like this before!

Older articles >