Norway Weather by Month: Full Climate Tables (2026)

This is a reference page. If you want opinions about which month is nicest, our guide to the best time to visit Norway does that. This one is the numbers: Norway weather by month, city by city, from the official 1991–2020 normals, with the daylight hours and sea temperatures nobody else bothers to include.

The gap it fills is specific. The best data site currently ranking publishes 23 separate city tables, which means you cannot compare Oslo with Bergen for the same month without scrolling between two pages. Another uses Oslo alone as a proxy for the entire country. A third has no tables at all. And not one of the five states which normals period it’s using — which matters, because 1961–1990 and 1991–2020 figures differ by roughly a degree across Norway.

Everything below is 1991–2020, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, unless flagged otherwise.

The one table most people want

Mean daily high in °C, so you can read across the country for a single month.

Three things fall straight out of it. Bergen is warmer than Oslo every month from October to April and cooler every month from May to September — maritime versus continental, in one table. Stavanger’s warmest month is August, not July, because the sea lags. And Tromsø in July (16.3°C) is warmer than Oslo in April (11.0°C), which is not what people expect from a city inside the Arctic Circle.

Rainfall, month by month

Millimetres. This is the number that determines whether you enjoy a Norwegian trip, far more than temperature.

The Bergen column is the story. 2,490 mm a year across roughly 200 wet days, and its wettest month is December at 290 mm — not October, as several travel sites claim. Its driest is May at 110 mm, which is less than half its winter figures.

Put the two tables together and May emerges as the quietly optimal month for western Norway: mild, driest, and — see below — the sunniest.

Sunshine hours, and a genuine surprise

May is the sunniest month in both Oslo and Bergen — not July. In Bergen it isn’t close: 252 hours in May against 203 in July. Nobody expects this, and it’s the single most actionable fact on this page.

Bergen’s December figure of 13 hours of sunshine for the entire month is also worth sitting with. That’s about 25 minutes a day.

City climate profiles

The tables tell you the numbers; these tell you what living with them is like.

Oslo — continental, four real seasons

Oslo has the most conventional climate in Norway, and the most extreme annual range of the major cities: from a January mean of −2.3°C to a July mean of 17.6°C. Winters are cold and comparatively dry (58 mm in January), with snow on the ground averaging 44 cm in January and lying most winters. Summers are properly warm — 22.7°C average highs in July, and southern Norway reached 32°C in the July 2026 heatwave.

The rainfall pattern is the opposite of Bergen’s: driest in late winter and spring, wettest in late summer, peaking at 103 mm in August. Combined with 251 hours of May sunshine, that makes late spring Oslo’s best stretch. See the Oslo guide.

Bergen — mild, dark and famously wet

Every winter month averages above freezing, which sounds pleasant until you see the precipitation column: 2,490 mm a year over roughly 200 wet days, peaking at 290 mm in December. Snow lies for about two days a year.

What that means in practice is a city where the weather is rarely severe and rarely dry. The rain arrives horizontally on Atlantic wind, umbrellas are useless, and locals simply wear proper waterproofs and carry on. The redeeming statistic is May: 110 mm and 252 hours of sun, the driest and sunniest month of its year, and better than July on both counts. The Bergen guide covers the wet-weather options.

Stavanger — the mildest

Marginally milder than Bergen in winter and noticeably drier, with 119 mm in January against Bergen’s 256. Its warmest month is August rather than July, and it has the gentlest annual swing of any Norwegian city — a maritime climate in the fullest sense. Preikestolen is walkable year-round partly because of this.

Trondheim — the balanced one

Sits between the maritime west and the continental east: colder than Bergen in winter, drier than both, and moderate in summer at 19.9°C in July. Rainfall is remarkably even across the year, between 49 and 90 mm every month, which makes it the most predictable major Norwegian city to plan around.

Bodø — Arctic Circle, but only just

At 67.3°N, Bodø is inside the Arctic Circle and yet has no true polar night — refraction keeps the sun above the horizon for about fifty minutes at the solstice. Winters hover around freezing, autumn is wet (138 mm in October), and it gets 35 days of midnight sun. It’s the gateway to Lofoten and a good illustration that “Arctic” in Norway does not mean what people assume.

Tromsø — the one that defies its latitude

At 69.6°N, Tromsø should be brutal. Its January mean of −3.0°C is within a degree of Oslo’s, because the North Atlantic Current runs past it and the sea never drops below about 4°C.

What you actually get is deep, reliable snow — 144 days a year with 25 cm or more, by far the highest of any city here — moderate temperatures, considerable cloud, and the full polar night and midnight sun cycle. February is its coldest month, at −3.3°C. May is its driest at 57 mm, and October its wettest at 127 mm. The Tromsø guide covers the city.

Longyearbyen — a different category

Svalbard is not a colder version of northern Norway; it’s a genuinely polar climate. February averages −11.7°C, July manages 9.4°C, and the whole archipelago is a desert by precipitation — 212 mm a year, less than a tenth of Bergen’s.

The light cycle is the extreme part: 125 days of midnight sun from 20 April to 22 August, and a dark season from late October to mid-February during which the sun doesn’t rise at all. The polar night guide covers what that’s like.

The Arctic interior — the genuinely cold Norway

Karasjok and Kautokeino, on the Finnmarksvidda plateau, are cut off from the sea and behave completely differently: a January mean of −14.8°C at Karasjok, routine nights below −30°C, and the national record of −51.4°C. Summers, oddly, are warm — the same continentality that makes winter severe makes July pleasant.

This is where the aurora statistics are best, because it’s drier and clearer than the coast. It’s also where you need genuine expedition clothing rather than a good coat.

How to read Norwegian weather forecasts

Two practical notes that make the numbers above more usable.

Use yr.no. It’s run by the Meteorological Institute and the state broadcaster, it’s free, it has no advertising, and it’s substantially more accurate for Norway than international apps — which tend to interpolate across terrain that changes climate every few kilometres.

Trust the hour, not the week. Norwegian weather is genuinely volatile, particularly on the coast, and a forecast four days out is close to guesswork. Check the morning of. A single warm front can take a fjord town from −5°C and snow to +10°C and rain within a day — foehn winds have pushed Sunndalsøra to 19°C in January.

And remember that these are averages across whole months. A “16°C” September day in Bergen can be 21°C and still, or 11°C sideways rain. Pack for the range, not the mean — the planning essentials guide covers what that means in practice.

Daylight hours

Hours between sunrise and sunset on the 15th of each month.

Note how much more violently the northern figures swing. Oslo runs from about six hours to nineteen. Tromsø goes from zero to twenty-four. Longyearbyen spends four months at zero and four at twenty-four, with barely any middle ground.

The precise boundaries, since they’re what people actually plan around:

Both phenomena get their own guides: the midnight sun and the polar night.

Sea temperatures

Nobody else publishes these alongside the air temperatures, and they answer the swimming question directly. Monthly averages in °C.

August is the warmest sea month everywhere, not July. The Oslofjord is genuinely swimmable at 18°C in high summer; Tromsø peaks at 11.9°C, which is wetsuit or brief-shriek territory. And note that Tromsø’s sea never drops below about 4°C — that’s the North Atlantic Current, and it’s why an Arctic city has milder winters than inland southern Norway.

These are modelled ten-year averages rather than MET normals, so treat them as indicative rather than official.

Snow

Mean snow depth in Oslo, in centimetres, and days per year with at least 25 cm of cover elsewhere — the measure that answers “will there be snow?”

Bergen has meaningful snow on the ground two days a year. If a white Christmas is the point of your trip, that single number should redirect it. More in the winter weather guide.

Records, for context

• Hottest ever: 35.6°C at Nesbyen, 20 June 1970 — still standing after 56 years, despite southern Norway hitting 32–33°C in July 2026.
• Coldest ever: −51.4°C at Karasjok, 1 January 1886. Røros has managed −50.3°C.
• Coldest calendar month: February 1966 at Karasjok, averaging −27.1°C.
• Warmest winter anomaly: foehn winds have pushed Sunndalsøra to 19°C in January.
• Wettest place: parts of the western fjord region exceed 3,500 mm a year; Bergen’s 2,490 mm is not the national maximum.

Which month to choose

Reading the tables together, a few conclusions that aren’t obvious from any single one:

• May — sunniest month in both Oslo and Bergen, Bergen’s driest, waterfalls at peak melt, and shoulder-season prices. The best-value month in the calendar for western Norway.
• July — warmest air, but not the sunniest, and Bergen’s rainfall climbs to 158 mm. Also peak crowds and prices. Our July guide covers doing it well anyway.
• August — warmest sea everywhere, thinning crowds after mid-month, but Bergen’s wettest summer month at 208 mm.
• September — autumn colour in the north, aurora returning, still mild. See the autumn guide.
• February and March — deepest snow, coldest coastal months, and the best combination of aurora and usable daylight.
• November — the weakest month on nearly every metric: dark, wet, and snow not yet reliable in the south.

For the reasoning rather than the numbers, see the best time to visit guide, the spring guide and the summer guide. If cost is the deciding factor, the cheapest time to visit has the price seasonality.

Frequently asked questions

What is the warmest month in Norway?

July almost everywhere — Oslo averages a 22.7°C high, Tromsø 16.3°C. Stavanger is the exception, peaking in August. Sea temperatures peak in August countrywide.

What is the coldest month in Norway?

January inland: Oslo averages −2.3°C and Karasjok −14.8°C. On the coast and in the Arctic it’s February, because the sea takes weeks to release its stored heat — Tromsø and Bergen are both coldest then.

Which month is rainiest in Bergen?

December, at 290 mm — not October, which several travel sites claim. Bergen’s driest month is May at 110 mm, and it averages 2,490 mm a year over about 200 wet days.

What is the sunniest month in Norway?

May, in both Oslo (251 hours) and Bergen (252 hours). It beats July in both cities, and in Bergen it isn’t close.

Can you swim in Norway?

In summer, yes. The Oslofjord reaches 18.4°C in August; Stavanger 16.3°C; Bergen 15.7°C. Tromsø peaks at 11.9°C, which is brief-dip territory. Everywhere is warmest in August, not July.

How much daylight does Norway get in December?

Oslo gets about six hours; Tromsø none at all, though it retains several hours of usable blue twilight; Longyearbyen none, with barely any twilight either.

Is Bergen warmer than Oslo?

In winter yes, by about four to five degrees. In summer no — Oslo is warmer from May through September. Bergen’s climate is maritime and mild but very wet; Oslo’s is continental, colder in winter and warmer in summer.

Which normals period do these figures use?

1991–2020 from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the current standard reference period. Older 1961–1990 figures run roughly a degree cooler, which is one reason published Norwegian climate data varies between sites.

Photo credits

All photographs are used under their respective Creative Commons or public-domain licences.

• Bergen. 2,490 mm of rain a year, and its wettest month is December, not October. — Photo: Svein-Magne Tunli – tunliweb.no / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
• Reine, Lofoten. Tromsø in July is warmer than Oslo in April — Photo: Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Temperature, precipitation, sunshine and snow figures are 1991–2020 normals from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. Trondheim’s high and low figures are 2002–2025 station averages, as no 1991–2020 normal is published for that station. Sea temperatures are modelled ten-year averages and are indicative rather than official. Daylight hours are calculated for the 15th of each month.