Sunrise and sunset in Norway

Average length of day in Oslo

The following graph shows the times of sunrise and sunset over the course of the year. The duration of twilight can be seen at the top and bottom edges. The vertical offset between March and October shows the effect of daylight saving time, when the time is set one hour ahead.
      sunshine duration       twilight phase

Sunrise and sunset in the most important cities of Norway

The cities are ordered by their geographic position from east to west, so in an approximate direction of the sun's course. Since the orbit around the sun is elliptical, sunrise or sunset never happen on a whole longitude at the same time. All data given for May 30th., localtime in Norway

Midnight sun north of the Arctic Circle

Norway is one of the few countries located on the Arctic Circle (66.57° northern latitude), which has a special effect on the length of days and nights. The Arctic Circle crosses Norway about halfway up, although the northern regions are considerably more sparsely populated.
The Arctic Circle forms the northernmost point of the sun's path. At the summer solstice around June 21, the midnight sun occurs here. The sun is low above the horizon even at night, but does not set. These are the longest days, lasting up to a month and a half at the North Cape (May 14 to July 29). The Midsummer Festival is not a public holiday in Norway, but it is nevertheless celebrated with much fanfare every year on June 23.

Polar Night

In winter, the effect is reversed and the polar night occurs: the sun is now so far south that it no longer reaches the areas north of the Arctic Circle. Directly at the polar circle only to a prolonged night. High in the north at the North Cape, however, the sun does not shine at all from November 20 to January 22.

The winter half-year is also the time when auroras appear most frequently. Auroras are created when solar winds from the Earth's magnetosphere hit the lower atmosphere. This results in a magnificent play of colors in the sky. The colors depend on the altitude and the atomic composition of the atmosphere. This weather glow occurs most frequently in the polar regions.

Sunrise and sunset by month (Oslo)

Duration of the sunset

The distance from the equator and the path of the sun determines not only the time of sunrise and sunset. The farther a country is from the equator, the more oblique the sun's path is to the horizon, causing sunset to last for a different duration. Oslo lies on the 60th degree of northern latitude and is therefore very far away from the equator. While a sunset near the equator lasts only about 20 minutes, in Norway, this period averages 65 minutes. In June, it's about 76 minutes in Oslo, while in December it's 55 minutes.

International cities for comparison