Bergen has an oceanic climate (KöppenCfb), with plentiful rainfall in all seasons; with intermittent snowfall during winter, but the snow usually melts quickly in the city. Average annual precipitation during 1961–90 was 2,250 mm (89 in).[30] This is because Bergen is surrounded by mountains that cause moist North Atlantic air to undergo orographic lift, yielding abundant rainfall. It rained every day from 29 October 2006 to 21 January 2007: 85 consecutive days.[31] The highest temperature ever recorded was 33.4 °C (92.1 °F) on 26 July 2019,[32] beating the previous record from 2018 at 32.6 degrees, and the lowest was −16.3 °C (2.7 °F) in January 1987.[33] Bergen is considered the rainiest city in Europe, although it is not the wettest “place” on the continent.[34][35][36]

Bergen’s weather is much warmer than the city’s latitude (60.4° N) might suggest. Temperatures below −10 °C (14 °F) are rare. Summer temperatures sometimes reach the upper 20s, temperatures over 30 °C were previously only seen a few days each decade. The growing season in Bergen is exceptionally long for its latitude, with more than 200 days. Its mild winters and proximity to the Gulf stream move the plant hardiness zone between 8b and 9a depending on location.

The high precipitation is often used in the marketing of the city, and features to a degree on postcards sold in the city. Compared to areas behind the mountains on the Scandinavian peninsula, Bergen is much wetter and has a more narrow range of temperature, with mild summers and cool winters. In fact, winters are very mild considering its high latitude, though not warmer than Denmark despite its coastal location and as much as 6 °C (11 °F) milder than on the Baltic Sea coasts of Sweden and Finland on the same latitude. Summers tend to be significantly more variable. The old sunshine hours data was from the met office in the city; at this location sunlight is obscured by mountains, especially by Ulriken.[37] A new sunrecorder was established by met.no at Bergen Airport Flesland (less terrain obscuring the sun) in December 2015, and this recorded on average 1,598 hours of sun annually during 2016–2020.[38]

hideClimate data for Bergen – Florida (met.office); average temperatures and precipitation 1981–2010;
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 16.9
(62.4)
13.5
(56.3)
19.8
(67.6)
25.5
(77.9)
31.2
(88.2)
30.3
(86.5)
33.4
(92.1)
31.0
(87.8)
27.1
(80.8)
23.8
(74.8)
17.9
(64.2)
13.9
(57.0)
33.4
(92.1)
Average high °C (°F) 4.3
(39.7)
4.5
(40.1)
6.5
(43.7)
10.4
(50.7)
14.7
(58.5)
17.3
(63.1)
19.1
(66.4)
18.6
(65.5)
15.4
(59.7)
11.4
(52.5)
7.3
(45.1)
4.8
(40.6)
11.2
(52.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) 2.2
(36.0)
2.2
(36.0)
3.8
(38.8)
7
(45)
10.9
(51.6)
13.6
(56.5)
15.6
(60.1)
15.4
(59.7)
12.4
(54.3)
8.8
(47.8)
5.1
(41.2)
2.7
(36.9)
8.3
(47.0)
Average low °C (°F) 0.1
(32.2)
−0.2
(31.6)
1.1
(34.0)
3.6
(38.5)
7
(45)
9.9
(49.8)
12.2
(54.0)
12.1
(53.8)
9.4
(48.9)
6.2
(43.2)
2.8
(37.0)
0.6
(33.1)
5.4
(41.8)
Record low °C (°F) −16.3
(2.7)
−13.4
(7.9)
−12.0
(10.4)
−5.5
(22.1)
−3.2
(26.2)
0.8
(33.4)
2.5
(36.5)
2.5
(36.5)
−0.1
(31.8)
−5.5
(22.1)
−10.0
(14.0)
−13.0
(8.6)
−16.3
(2.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 252.7
(9.95)
197.8
(7.79)
200.3
(7.89)
133.7
(5.26)
104.5
(4.11)
119.4
(4.70)
151.1
(5.95)
198.4
(7.81)
254.9
(10.04)
270.8
(10.66)
261.4
(10.29)
267.8
(10.54)
2,412.8
(94.99)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 19.1 16.4 17.4 14.0 12.8 12.8 14.5 15.9 17.0 19.1 18.1 18.5 195.6
Average relative humidity (%) 78 76 73 72 72 76 77 78 79 79 78 79 76
Source: Meteoclimat (temperatures)[39]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.