Nor­mal­ly in April, the sai­ling boat Noor­der­licht is fro­zen in solid ice in Tem­pel­fjord to ser­ve as a desti­na­ti­on for snows­coo­ter or dog sledge tours. This year, the “boat in the ice” is a “boat wit­hout ice”: until now, the fjords have sim­ply not fro­zen due to the lar­ge­ly unu­sual­ly mild wea­ther and the high water tem­pe­ra­tures. Befo­re Eas­tern, Noor­der­licht even left Tem­pel­fjord to visit Lon­gye­ar­by­en.

The ice chart shows an unu­su­al lack of fast ice for the sea­son. Nor­mal­ly, most smal­ler fjords on the west coast and lar­ge are­as in the east are fro­zen over with solid fast ice in April. But what is “nor­mal” the­se days?

Source: Sval­bard­pos­ten