page_title: Northern Norway
section_title: Maritime to continental subarctic climate
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Norway / Climate / Maritime to continental subarctic climate
caption_attribution_description: Utsikt mot tettstedet Nesna med øyene (fra venstre ) Hugla, Tomma og Handnesøya i bakgrunnen
context_page_description: Northern Norway is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway are Mo i Rana, Bodø, Narvik, Harstad, Tromsø and Alta. Northern Norway is often described as the land of the midnight sun and the land of the northern lights. Further north, halfway to the North Pole, is the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, traditionally not regarded as part of Northern Norway.
  The region is multi-cultural, housing not just Norwegians but also the indigenous Sami people, Norwegian Finns and Russian populations. The Norwegian language dominates in most of the area; Sami speakers are mainly found inland and in some of the fjord areas of Nordland, Troms and particularly Finnmark – though ethnic Sámi who do not speak the language are found more or less everywhere in the region. Finnish is spoken in only a few communities in the east of Finnmark.
context_section_description: Brønnøysund in the southern part of Nordland has January and February averages of −1 °C (30 °F) and −0.6 °C (30.9 °F), July & 24 August-hr averages are both 13 °C (55 °F), year average is 5.6 °C (42.1 °F) (about the same as in Oslo), and precipitation is 1,510 millimetres (59 in) per year, with autumn as the wettest season (). Brønnøysund experiences on average 63 days/year with strong breeze (22 knots) or more, and 18 of these days reach gale-force winds or more (34 knots, data from Leka just south of Brønnøysund, source met.no). In all areas, late autumn and winter is the most windy time of year, as the Atlantic low pressure systems are strongest then.
  Karasjok in the eastern part of Finnmarksvidda has January and February averages of −17 °C (1 °F) and −15 °C (5 °F), July & August averages are 13 °C (55 °F) and 11 °C (52 °F), year average is −2.4 °C (27.7 °F) and precipitation is only 366 mm/year (). Situated in a river valley, Karasjok only experiences on average 1 day/year with strong breeze (22 knots) or more, and virtually never sees gale-force winds.
  The mean annual temperature difference between Brønnøysund and Karasjok is 8 °C (13 °F), about the same as the difference between Brønnøysund and Madrid, Spain ().
  The comparatively mild maritime climate dominates along the coast and in the large fjords, even at the most northern coastal locations; in Nordkapp municipality the average January temperature is a modest −4 °C (25 °F) and the year average is 2 °C (36 °F) (). Some islands, like Træna and Røst, have average temperatures of approximately 1 °C (34 °F) in their coldest months.
  The warm climate in coastal areas, relative to other locations at the same latitude, is by many attributed to the relatively warm North Atlantic Current, an extension of the Gulf Stream.
caption: Nesna in the Helgeland district; the Nordland coast has a temperate climate much warmer than the interior highlands.
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