It is the northernmost town in the world. The around 2.000 inhabitants still have the polar night lasting until February 14th. Located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole you should think it is freezing cold now in January. So not. Friday’s temperature was 1 degrees above freezing.
Average temperature over the last 30 days was minus 5,8 °C, 9,3 °C above the normal, according to the weather data statistics for Longyearbyen made by the Norwegian Metrological Institute.
Earlier in January, BarentsObserver reported about exceptionally little ice in the northern- and northeastern part of the Barents Sea, with ice-free waters even north of the two archipelagoes Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya.
