Photo: Early afternoon darkness as Mørketiden – The Polar Night begins, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. December 8, 2020. 14:20

This weekend Lofoten will see its last sunlight of the year as the Mørketid – Polar Night begins. For me, it has already been many days since I last saw the sun, as this years grey and dreary weather has maintained a strong presence over the islands: stably unstable is the current forecast for the weekend.

Stably unstable. It kind of has a nice sound to it, despite meaning that you’ll probably don’t want to spent too much time outside. This autumn and start of winter has perhaps been the longest period of consistently poor weather since I moved to Lofoten in 2016. I guess this is the payback for nice summer. I’ve been needing to do some housework which requires me to be outside in relatively calm conditions – so stuff doesn’t go flying all over my yard, and lately it is only one afternoon every couple weeks where this is possible. And despite all the hype over the coming solar maximum, I have read many reports of frustrated northern lights chasers, even up in Tromsø, which is largely suffering the same weather as Lofoten.

I’ve only photographed on 1 day in the last 3 weeks, so this photo is from a couple years back. Only 14:20 in the afternoon, you can already feel the last moments of twilight before the darkness of night arrives.

Despite the overwhelming presence of darkness in the polar night, there are some brighter moments as well. I’ve put together a new article and gallery with images from Mørketiden.

POLAR NIGHT GALLERY

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 70-200 f/4
119mm
ISO 100
f 6.3
1.6 Second
WB Daylight

Photo: Long shadows over snowy November mountain landscape, Lofoten Islands, Norway. November 19, 2023. 12:12

Having spent the last month in sunny Spain, returning to a November version of Lofoten is like hitting a wall of darkness. The change of scenery was made even more apparent after flight delays didn’t see me back in Leknes until 23:15, at which point I had a 2km walk to where my van was parked at a friend’s house. Nervously watching the weather radar as I arrived, I lucky made it to my van between the frequent passing sleet showers. As I neared home 20 minutes later I was greeted with a full arctic blizzard. Perhaps I should have stayed in Spain…

By all accounts, this year was a good November to have missed. Looking at the weather history, it has rained or snowed 28 of the last 30 days, with no shortage of severe wind and storms included. As I write now, my house is once again rumbling in gale force winds.

With the polar night still two weeks away, the sun is already quite low on the horizon, with all day golden hour – should the sun actually emerge from the clouds. By now, many locations across the northern side of Lofoten will have long since seen the last direct sunlight of the year, even before the start of the polar night.

From my house, I can look from the shadows across to the distant mountains of Himmeltindan, Veggen, Mannen, and Ristind as they rise into the mid November sun. Sun that won’t reach me again until late February. But soon enough, even these mountains won’t be high enough to reach the winter sun and the whole world will be twilight and darkness.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
83mm
ISO 50
f 8
20 Seconds
WB Daylight
10 Stop ND filter

Photo: Northern lights shine in sky over icy Myrlandsveien road, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. November 27, 2023. 22:13

Already in October, a Finnish tour bus full of passengers slid off Lofoten’s ice roads and multiple other cars have made it to the infamous ‘bil i grofta’ newspaper headline. Even a police car up in Finnmark while still driving with summer tires ended up sliding on ice: which according to Norwegian police themselves – no matter what the season, it is the driver’s responsibility to have appropriate tires for road conditions. In Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark the period for winter tires is October 16 – April 30. However, should icy/snowy conditions present themselves outside of this period, it is your responsibility to have correct tires. If it was you or I off the road with inappropriate tires for conditions, we would have a temporary loss of our driving license. The police have said they will investigate themselves about the incident… 😉

So, with November, and increasingly winter driving conditions just around the corner for Lofoten, this is my yearly reference to winter driving and safety on Lofoten. You can find the follow article below:

Winter Driving On Lofoten

With all the hype around the solar maximum this year, the coming winter is probably going to be the busiest ever on Lofoten. And that means many inexperienced winter drivers on Lofoten’s narrow and winding roads. I would roughly guess that a majority of traffic in western Lofoten will be tourists in rental cars, and probably basically every car driving around at night as people hunt for northern lights – rain or clear weather, snow or storms. And it will probably be sometime in mid February when I wonder why I work terribly long hours as a photo guide, when I could earn just as much money in a few hours driving a tow truck picking up rental cars from the side of the road.

If you are reading this, please drive safely! There might be some days during your trip where it is simply not safe to be on the roads. There is no shame in sitting around your cabin or hotel and waiting for conditions to improve. And if the weather is that bad, you’re probably not missing out on much anyhow. Weather caused travel disruptions are frequent throughout winter on Lofoten, so be aware that you might need a plan B, C, or D if severe weather hits at an in opportune time in your travel.

I almost forgot to write about the photo! With a nice full moon light I had been photographing the aurora over Nappstaumen and Himmeltindan looking towards the northeast. As the activity slowly increased and the aurora rose overhead, Looking west down the road from my current location provided a nice shot without having to drive anywhere else. Without the moonlight, I don’t think this image would have worked, is I feel in needs the bright snow to balance out the foreground and mountain. Ideally I should have been in a better location with a cleaner view to the west, but at the moment, this was the best I could do.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Sigma 14mm f/1.8
14mm
ISO 2000
f 2
1.6 Seconds
WB Daylight