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?

Fresh snow in Tromsø Jan 25 2026

It has been a while since it snowed in Tromsø. Nevertheless, the trees have been white this week, not because of any snow but because of the hoar frost. Yesterday many trees – large and small – were still covered in hoar frost. In the afternoon it started snowing.

When I woke up today the outside scenery looked as wintry as it could be. The next two photos I took from the balcony of my flat on Tromsøya this morning.

Today after breakfast I went on a ski tour. Not a big one, just starting at the gravel road that leads into the forest 350 metres from here. The road leads to the ski run and crosses a cross-country ski track on the way there.

I like the scenery there in all seasons, but I adore it in winter when fresh snow has arrived. Just some photos, especially from the more open places – bogs in summer, snowfields in winter:

While I cleared 14 cm of fresh snow from my parking space in the afternoon it started snowing again leading to a snowburst with snow bucketing down and adding another one or two centimetres additional snow within minutes. In my snowed-covered teddy fleece jacket I looked like a snowman.

Next week there will be not much snowfall, but it will be cold enough to preserve the snow. I love winter in the north.

My first winter paddling 2026 Jan 2 2026

It may not look like the ideal conditions for kayaking: -10 °C, snowfall and winds of 7–10 m/s, according to SMHI. Anyway, I wanted to open this year’s kayak season today, though not for a long trip.

It all start with dressing properly: stay warm, stay dry. Then I dragged my kayak to the small bay. I was lucky, the ice was thick enough to cross, so I was in the water within minutes.

I followed the coastline southwards. I would have loved to come closer to the photo scenes, but there are a lot of underwater rocks there and the waves were breaking on the shore. So I had to keep my distance.

Paddling became much easier with every metre away from shore. Most rocks were covered with ice, a result of the cold, windy weather over the past few days. The sea was open but some long bands of wet ice floes were drifting on the open Baltic Sea.

I turned right and headed to Vitskärsudden, our nearest sandy beach.

I turned my kayak and paddled the same way back. First to the south, then south-east, and finally east

We use this rock as a waymark to enter or exit the bay of Vitskärsudden

And then home again, which lies to the north-northeast – that’s where the cold wind and snow come from. I can feel the cold air behind my face mask. Time to put on the ski goggles. (Nice side effect of being bundled up like this: you do not have to smile on your selfies ;-) )

I tried to take some more photos but was blown back by winds with around 1 m/s. Time to reach the ice edge – from there it’s less than 100 metres home.

The 3.8 km took me an hour. Partly because of the wind, partly because my neoprene survival suit is pretty stiff but mostly because of the photos I took. Even though my iPhone, in its waterproof case, hangs around my neck, it always takes time to put off the warm mittens and put the paddle aside.

Despite the forecast, it has been snowing all day and the kayak lying on the terrace is covered with snow. The survival suit is still drying in the shower. Sleeves and legs were encrusted with ice when I hung it up.

Tromsø—Obbola by car Nov 16 2025

You may know that I have two places to live. My “work home” in Tromsø, where I work at the Norwegian Polar Institute and my “home home” in Obbola near Umeå, where my wife Annika works and we have a house together. Mostly we use the train and the bus to travel, sometimes the plane and occasionally even the car, although it’s a long way.

It is early Friday morning, I’m in Tromsø. My car is packed and I’ve cleared last night’s snow. It is mid-November and the conditions are wintry.

Norway

I start the trip at 6:50. In Tromsø the weather is fair, but then I experience some heavy snow showers. When it’s dark the snowflakes seem to form a tunnel that looks a bit as if a spaceship in a science fiction film were going to warp drive. Some short passages have streetlights. That makes seeing the road much easier.

Around half past eight it is bright enough outside to see the landscape, not only a fraction of the road. It is still snowing, but driving is easy. Around 9:20 I reach the border to …

Finland

The snowfall has stopped but a lot of snow lies on the road. I guess up to 15 cm with some deep tracks of a few cars. After a while a snowplough approaches, but it is clearing the opposite lane. In Kilpisjärvi I make a stop at the supermarket and buy some breakfast. The rear of my car is plastered with snow.

I continue south and it is clearing up. Even the road is in much better shape now. Easy driving.

In the Finnish village Karesuvanto I turn right, cross the Muonio River and thus the border to …

Sweden

… where I arrive in Karesuando. I turn right again and join the E45 which ends in Gela, Italy. The sky is clear and the outside temperature dropped more and more. In Övre Soppero the display in the car shows -13 °C. It also shows a lot of warnings because the packed snow in front of the car is confusing the sensors for the cruise control. I feel tired and find a parking bay where I take a nap.

I sleep less than half an hour but I feel refreshed again. I continue my car trip to Vittangi and while I’m following the road see the slowest sunset I can remember. Perhaps, because I’m driving southwards?

In Töre, where I reach the E4 I fill up the car with fuel. From there it is not far to Råneå, where I visit friends and stay overnight. I’m asleep before 9 o’clock.

Still Sweden

After ten hours of sleep and breakfast I feel fit again to continue my car trip. The day before I made already two thirds of the distance and today I’m more or less only on the E4, so driving will be easy. To be honest, it’s a bit boring. That’s also because I’m leaving winter behind. There is less and less snow and it gets warmer. The good thing – the snow on the car has melted and the cruise control is working again.

Around 14:15 I pass Obbola and drive southwards to “home home”. No snow.

And then, after driving 966.8 km I am finally home home again. Here I’ll stay for about three weeks, then Annika and I will make the return trip to Tromsø together.

The route

Tromsø—Nordkjosbotn—Kilpisjärvi—Karesuvanto—Karesuando—Övre Soppero—Nedre Soppero—Vittangi—Tärendö—Överkalix—Töre—Råneå—Skellefteå—Umeå—Obbola

November snowfall in Tromsø Nov 11 2025

When I came back from Scotland about three weeks ago snow had fallen in Tromsø. But temperatures went up again and more or less all the snow melted away, at least on Tromsøya. These photos I took on my way home five days ago.

It started snowing in the weekend and so it looked like, when I waited for the bus yesterday morning:

During the day another twenty centimetres of snow fell down and at 0:00 we had 29.7 cm of snow at the weather station. I however think, we have even more snow, where I live. Weather can be quite local in Tromsø.

This morning it had cleared up and temperatures were round -2 °C, when I went out for a walk. It takes only a couple of minutes, and you are in the nature of Tromsøya with its forests, bogs, lakes, and hiking paths. This way will soon become a ski trail, if the weather stays wintery.

When the rain comes, look for the light Sep 19 2025

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 ;-)

End of April winter in Tromsø Apr 29 2025

When I woke up yesterday morning (28. April) and looked outside the window of my living room I was pretty surprised. I didn’t rain in the night, it had been snowing.

Round 15 cm of fresh snow had fallen within the last six hours and everything looked wintry again. In the centre of Tromsø however, 88 metres lower in elevation than my apartment only five cm of snow had fallen and the cars had smashed it to brown slush. What a difference!

Home again I watched a ptarmigan in the back yard. First it picked on a twig of a tree, then it dug itself into the snow and rested there for some hours. Couldn’t it see me behind the window pane or did it just ignore me? In the night it was gone.

Today I took my skis to work so that I could ski back home from the lake Prestvannet. This time the forecast was correct: we got a blue sky, the sun was shining at temperatures round +3 °C. At the harbour in the centre the view was quite spring-like.

Taking the bus from the center up to Prestvannet takes only 5 minutes, but there it is still winter season with snow depths round 90 cm. It’s astonishing what a difference in altitude of less than 100 metres can do.

Time to ski back, preferably not on the tracks but through the forests. After four kilometres on skis and 840 metres by foot I was home.

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!

Blowing snow Apr 8 2025

It looks like winter has come back to Tromsø. At four o’clock the temperature fell below zero, at 17:30 the first heavy snow shower arrived and at 22:00 we got wind gusts up to 18 m/s. It’s not a lot of snow that fell, but the wind gusts take the snow from the ground and blow it through the streets in metre high clouds. Winter parka time, at least when I took this photo.

Blowing snow in front of my door in Tromsø

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