Photo: Drying stockfish under a rainy March sky, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 19, 2026. 16:47

It had been an almost perfect winter, until it wasn’t. As soon as March arrived, the cold and calm days of January and February were instantly replaced with wind and rain. It was almost like a light switch was flipped. Almost a month later, and Lofoten has since received only a light dusting of snow, which is now melting away in the next waves of rain. My hopes of much, if any, skiing this year have melted away.

It is always difficult to make an impression about one year’s weather. What will next winter bring? No one can say. But looking across the years, it seems Lofoten’s winter season is becoming shorter. Not in an abrupt end, but kinda just fading away never to fully return. This is where Norway’s ’11 seasons’ joke comes into play. Perhaps we are in Fool’s Spring, or maybe it’s already Spring of Deception. There is still time for lots of winter left, but it just doesn’t feel like it will return this year.

In this week’s photo, Lofoten’s stockfish attempt to dry beneath a rainy grey sky. You can see in the background mountains that most of the snow is gone – it is already looking more like May than March. Despite being out in the field guiding nearly every day of the month so far, my own photography slowed down to a handful of days – although this is also due to many perfect photography days earlier in the winter. Even a week up north on Senja was filled with positive temperatures and rain.

While the clouds did part at times, grey has been the dominant color of March this year and I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve seen the sun. A north wind in shaking my house as I write this and Thursday’s scheduled cruise ship guiding was canceled because of the weather – though a big storm and 10m waves down south are largely to blame for that.

I was out last night, the first clear night in a long time, waiting for the rocket launch from Andøya (it was canceled). A faint aurora was in the sky, which would have looked cool with the rocket launch. As it became clear things were canceled around 21:30, I began my walk home. Turning off my headlamp once back to the road, I could see the horizon was still glowing. Soon I can dream of summer…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
30mm
ISO 200
f6.3
1/125 Second
WB Daylight

Photo: Dawn light shines over Narvtinden mountain peak and reflection, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 26, 2026. 09:51

This view has long been a favourite of mine. It is often a relatively straightforward shot, so I don’t tend to stop there too often anymore, but on this January morning, it looked like the sky had potential for something special.

The air was calm and still, and cold! Some snow flurries were gently floating in from the north so it was a race for which would arrive first; the light or the low clouds. It ended up being a bit of both.

As far as I could tell, the southern horizon seemed clear and I was hoping we’d get a good light show as the sun arrived. And it came very close, but didn’t quite happen. Conditions were just on the edge of one of those fire in the sky moments, the clouds never quite caught all the light and these soft pinks faded across the sky into a deep blue of the passing snow. I would have probably been better to be looking in a more southernly vantage point. But I do like the softness and subtleness of the light for this image.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
84mm
ISO 100
f8
1/13 Second
WB Daylight

Photo: Vanishing sun in snow storm on Reinefjord, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 13, 2025. 10:13

On this week’s cruise around Reinefjord I could see the large wall of cloud and snow approaching from the north even before the ferry boat left the jetty in Reine. I could see on the radar that it wasn’t too big of a snow flurry, but the winds were calm and it was moving slowly. My only hope was that the clouds cleared by the time the boat reached Kirkefjord, so I could see my favourite mountains in Lofoten.

Not long into the journey the first flakes of snow began the fall, becoming thicker and thicker at the boat headed into the dark cloud ahead. Most people on deck quickly took shelter inside the cabin, while I chose to remain outside in hopes of seeing something interesting.

It would have been better captured on video, but I still like this still image of last moments of sun before it completely disappeared within the cloud of falling snow. My last moments of seeing anything in the outside world before entering a blank void of grey.

The cloud did eventually pass as the ferry reached Kirkefjord, leaving the mountains rising into an eerie misty sky. But I already posted a view from Kirkefjord (though from another day) last week, so no need for repetition…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
120mm
ISO 400
f6.3
1/1600 Second
WB Daylight