The ‘Norwegian Meteorological Institute’ marked Northern Norway (Finnmark) as “Warm” or “Very Warm”, up to “Extremely warm” in Kirkenes, near the Russian border. “Normal” is the average seen over the years, since measurements and classifications of climate statistics started. In January, Kirkenes saw average temperatures of 4-5 °C warmer than normal: it is the warmest measured in 60 years. Kirkenes is at 69 °North, more than 300 km inside the Arctic Circle, and the average temperature (January 1-31) was -7,7 °C, measured at Kirkenes airport. For Norway as such, the average temperature was 1,2 °C warmer than the normal average for the period 1991-2020. Nevertheless, February started normally for this time of the year, with Kirkenes at -25 °C Friday morning. Further north, at Svalbard, the extent of sea-ice is currently at its 3rd lowest since observations with satellite started in 1978, or very little now compared to the reference period 1991-2020.
