The climate in Svalbard

Climate zone: arctic polar zone

The climate in Svalbard is predominantly frosty cold and in the winter months the mercury does not even reach the positive range. In the cold season, the maximum temperatures are well below zero. Due to the warmer temperatures, the best time for traveling is from June to September. Less attractive are the cold months from November to May.

Temperature records of the last 16 years

The hottest temperature measured from 2007 to January 2023 was reported by the Ny Alesund weather station. In August 2008, the record temperature of 20.5 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September was recorded in 2020 with an average temperature of 5.6 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every four to six hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 4.3 degrees Celsius. The average maximum daily temperature at that time was 6.1 °C.

The coldest day in these 16 years was reported by the Ny Alesund weather station. Here the temperature dropped to -30.2 °C in March 2020. Ny Alesund lies at an altitude of eight meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 2020 with an average temperature of -14.9 °C. In Svalbard, it is usual to have about 5.7 degrees more at -9.2 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in January 2012. With 7.1 mm per day, the Ny Alesund weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 16 years.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1923 - 2022

In contrast to single record values, long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. An average value would give a distorted result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and distorts the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 1 measuring points in order to have comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1923 to 2022, there were only these 1 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Jan Mayen). From these weather reports, we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was September 1934 at 8.0 °C. February 1943 was the coldest month with an average temperature of -14.5 °C.

The average annual temperature was about -0.2 °C in the years after 1923 and about 1.1 °C in the last years before 2022. So in less than 100 years, it has increased by about 1.3 °C. This trend only applies to the selected 1 weather stations in Svalbard. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of global warming has been provided separately.



Data basis: German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements.