Daily Weather in Norway

My country's capital city is Oslo, and I am covering three days of forecasting of the weather in this city. These three days are october 29th, october 30th and october 31st. 

For october 29th the forecasted high is 48°F and the forecasted low is 34°F. The  change for precipitation is at 0%.  

For october 30th the forecasted high is 44°F and the forecasted low is 33°F. The  change for precipitation is at 0%. 

For october 31st the forecasted high is 39°F and the forecasted low is 38°F. The change for precipitation is at 90%. 

The average pressure over these three days are 29.98 inches. The pressure increases over this three day period. The average wind speed over these three days is 5.44 mph and the wind speed decreases over this period. 

    Figure 1: satellite image downloaded from www.wunderground.com

This satellite image shows that there are no clouds in the city of Oslo when this image was taken. Oslo is marked with a black arrow in this image. There are some clouds very far away from Oslo though, which are all cold, and low to middle clouds. You can tell if the clouds are high, middle or low by looking at the legend on the right side of the image, where the color blue represents low/middle clouds. The image shows a blue color which indicates middle frozen and no precipitation. 

The type of ground surface in Oslo is mostly represented by a grey color which indicates a city surface. There are also some small areas that has the color green which represents parks and forests, and by locking at the map I could see a big river going across the whole city of Oslo. 

                                Figure 2: image of Europe downloaded from www.intellicast.com

This image shows both high- and low pressures. The low pressure is located around the country of Norway, while the high pressures is located north and west from Norway. As you can see there are many different fronts. The red line represents a warm front that is located East of Norway. The purple line is a occluded front located North of Norway. The stationary front is located East of Norway and consist of both red and blue lines in-between each other. The cold front is located south of Norway and is represented by a blue line. There is also a cold front far East from Norway in the Russia-region in the right of this image.

                                Figure 3: image of North-western Europe downloaded from www.intellicast.com

                    

This image shows low pressures around Norway. As you can see there are many different fronts. The red line represents a warm front that is located East of Norway. The purple line is a occluded front located North of Norway. The stationary front is located East of Norway and consist of both red and blue lines in-between each other. The cold front is located south of Norway and is represented by a blue line. 

Global and Local Winds in Norway

Norway is located in the northern hemisphere at a latitude between 57° to 71° North and a longitude between 4° West to 31° East. Norway is therefore located in both the ferrel cell and the polar cell.  Norway is affected by the westerlies from south and the polar easterlies from north. The westerlies blows from west towards north east. The polar easterlies blows irregular from north and east towards south west. These warm, moist westerly winds meets the colder, dryer easterlies and makes up an front. This front is called the Polar front and represents a huge difference in temperature between these two winds. In the Polar front the warmer air masses from south meets the colder air masses from north and is pushed up by the colder air. This creates a low- pressure belt that influences the weather and climate in Norway.

Norway is located in the Westerly wind belt, and as I mentioned, the westerlies blows from west towards east. Norway has a long coastline located in west, so the climate and weather in Norway is very much affected by these westerly winds. 

With Norway being located so far north it is also strongly affected by the low-pressure system along the polar front. The polar front is located over Norway for the most of the time during the year. This low-pressure system is created near the surface, while higher up in the atmosphere there is a polar jet stream that carries these winds towards east. Norway is pretty long in extent though, so the northern part and the southern parts of Norway normally does not experience low-pressure at the same time. 

In the Polar front the warmer air masses from the westerlies meets the colder air masses from the polar easterlies and the warmer air gets pushed up. This warm, moist air is transported with the westerlies to the Norwegian western coast where the air masses is experiencing forced lifting by the mountains. This forced lifting creates orographic precipitation some miles from the coast, while the inner part of the country are lee areas in relation to the winds coming from west. The wettest areas is therefore near the coast (west), while the driest areas are located behind the coastal mountain ranges (east), in the "rain shadow areas". 

So, in Norway the westerly wind belt has a huge impact on both the coastal and the continental climate.

There is also a lot of frontal precipitation in Norway due to the Polar Front. When a cyclone develops along the polar front zone the warm air rises above the cold air, cools and releases precipitation. The polar front contributes with humid air masses over Norway throughout the whole year, but the cyclone activity is greatest in autumn and wintertime. 

Norway is a mountainous country and experiences a lot of different winds and breezes due to the differences in altitude. The three most typically winds or breezes that Norway experiences due to the mountains are mountain breezes, valley breezes, and orographic lifting. The mountain- and valley breezes are day and nighttime phenomena due to different heating of the valley floor and walls. Orographic lifting on the other hand is due to moist air getting pushed up when they meet the high mountains and the air starts condensing and clouds and precipitation occurs. Because of this relationship between the air and the mountains some parts of norway experience a lot of orographic precipitation, while others are more dry areas because their are located in flat areas or behind the mountains where there is a "rain shadow". 

Norway has a long coastline all the way from south to north along the west side of the country. Coastlines usually experience both sea breezes and land breezes. These breezes are day- and nighttime phenomenas, but also seasonally phenomenas. In the summer Norway experiences a lot of sea-breeze and land-breeze during the winter. These breezes are due to the differential heating of land and water and creates high and low pressures that forms the winds. This explains why there are stronger winds near the coasts then inland. 

Typical Weather and Tourism in Norway

In Norway Winter Solstice occur on december 21st. December is the last month of the year, but the first month of winter in Norway. This is the darkest month in Norway and snow is the type of precipitation that is most likely to occur.There can also be some sleet and hail, but rain is not that common during december. The average maximum temperature in Norway in december is 33.8°F and the average minimum temperature is 23°F. 

Summer Solstice occur on june 21st. June is the first of the summer months in Norway and is also the month where we have the long summer-nights. The average maximum temperature in Norway in june is 66.2°F and the average minimum temperature is 50°F. Precipitation that is likely to occur in june is mostly rain due to the temperatures being higher. I have actually several times experienced snow(!) falling down in my backyard though… in june...

Spring Equinoxes occur on march 20th. The average maximum temperature in march in Norway is 39.2°F and the average minimum temperature is 24.8°F. March is the first month of the spring in Norway. This is also the month where Norwegians starting to notice how much longer the days are becoming. The snow is starting to melt in the mountains during this months, but it still snows in march in Norway. Besides snow, march can experience both rain and sleet. 

Autumnal Equinoxes occur on september 23th. The average maximum temperature in Norway in september is 55.4°F and the average minimum temperature is 44.6°F. September is the first month of autumn in Norway. This is the season when  you could experience rain almost every day. The autumn is therefore the wettest season in Norway. Later in the autumn you could experience some sleet, but not in september. 

The spring is a positive season in Norway. This is the time when the norwegians "wakes up" from the long, cold, ongoing winter. March is the month where the days are getting longer, the flowers sprouts, and when the people up north can finally take of their heavy parkas and start wearing lighter jackets. 

Late march or april, during the easter holiday, would be the best time to visit Norway. This is a time where it is not as cold as the winter, but still some snow left up in the mountains to go skiing. In the spring, and especially during easter, Norwegians travels  up to their cabins in the mountains to go skiing and enjoy the easter sun. Even though the average temperatures are set to be very low  you could actually experience great weather in march, especially in the big cities of Norway. To walk down the shopping streets in Oslo during the spring is fantastic, and you would tell how pleased the Norwegians are when they are finally feeling the sun starting to warm them up again!

If you don't want to go skiing you should probably take a hike or visit Trollstigen, Preikestolen and Nordkapp. These are the most popular tourist attractions in Norway along with the cruise ships that will take you through the world-famous Norwegian fjords! 

Visit Norway! Go and see the northern lights or the midnight sun, or visit the world-famous Norwegian fjords,    mountains and glaciers!

Temperature Controls in the city of Oslo in Norway

There are five main controls on surface air temperature. Within a country, different cities can experience very different temperatures and weather due to the topography in the city, the location to the city with respect to latitude, the ocean, wind-direction, and so on. The five controls on surface air temperature are ocean currents, altitude, geographic position, cloud cover and albedo, and differential heating of land and water. Today I am going to talk about the city Oslo, and which controls on temperature that impact this city the most and the least.

Norway's capital city is Oslo and is located in the eastern Norway with a latitude 59°56'58"N and longitude 10°45'23"E. The warmest month in Oslo is july with an average monthly temperature of 64°F. The coldest month in Oslo is december with an average monthly temperature of 27°F. The annual range of temperature in Oslo is then 37°F. Here is the website where I found this information:www.met.no/English/

Oslo has a humid climate due to the Gulf stream. The Gulf Stream is an ocean current and an control of temperature, by keeping Oslo much milder in the winters, and much warmer in the summers. Even though the Gulf Stream doesn't effect just only Norway's capital city, but instead the whole country, I would say that this ocean current is the most important control on temperature in Oslo. 

Oslo has warmer summers and milder winters than it originally should have had, because of the warm Gulf stream waters. The Gulf Stream originates in the Gulf of Mexico and carries warm water across the Atlantic Ocean up to northern latitudes. In North, the Gulf Stream is also known as the "North Atlantic Drift". This is a powerful, warm Atlantic Ocean Current that are responsible from providing Oslo and Norway from not to share the same cold temperatures as Alaska, Greenland and Siberia which shares the same latitude. 

The Gulf Stream does not flow smoothly, but instead it circulates in a turbulent way. This circulation movement makes the gulf stream use longer time to pass the Norwegian coast. The longer time it uses to pass, the more time the warm ocean current have to warm up the air around the coast. This warm air blows mainly as westerly winds. These warm winds keeps Oslo milder. On average, Oslo is supposed to be 10°C colder than it is today. 

Among all the controls on temperature that I listed in the beginning of this text, I believe that altitude is the one that impact Oslo the least.  Norway is a very mountainous country, but Oslo is located at a relatively flat lying area so altitude does not impact Oslo as much as other cities of Norway.  

As we all know, our Earth is getting warmer, and this warming process is referred to as "global warming". What a lot of people might not know is that every place on earth will not certainly get warmer. Some of them might instead get colder. And that is what scientist are saying about Norway. They believe that Norway will get colder. My professor back in Norway told me about this theory of how Norway will get colder, and I will try to explain here what he told me. 

The global change have so far lead to severe melting of glaciers in the poles. Along with the melted ice and more precipitation up in north, the North Atlantic Ocean is receiving more freshwater. This increase in freshwater in the North Atlantic threatens the strength of the Gulf Stream in the future. This is because when the Gulf Stream passes Norway and goes further up North it eventually sinks down and becomes deep water. This sinking is due to the amount of salt that is in this southernly water, along with the cooling of the water. Saltier, colder water is more dense, and will sink. So, for the water to sink it has to contain salt, but the scientists concern is that this sinking, that leads to an "pumping" effect of the ocean circulation, will decrease because of the freshwater supply. 

If the Gulf stream decreases in its strength, the Norwegian weather will be colder. As I mentioned earlier, when the Gulf stream is strong, it brings more warm water towards Norway and Norway gets warmer. But if this theory proves to be correct, Oslo and Norway will experience a much different climate in the future. 

The research that I have done to find out what controls the temperatures in Oslo, have confirmed to me just how important the Gulf Stream is for us Norwegians up in North. Not only is the ocean currents a big factor to the whole country of Norway, but it is also the major control on temperature in the city Oslo. Scientists are sure of the fact that we are definetely in a period of global warming, but it will be interesting to keep following the research that will be done in the future, and to see if they will predict another outcome for Norway. Is Norway going to be warmer or colder? I certainly don't know..