Mon
18 Feb
2019

… is not real­ly what you expect in Spits­ber­gen in Febru­ary.

But it is also not real­ly a good descrip­ti­on of what we curr­ent­ly have in Lon­gye­ar­by­en.

Theo­re­ti­cal­ly, we should have had the first sun­ri­se on Satur­day (16 Febru­ary). This does not mean that you can see the sun from Lon­gye­ar­by­en. You would have to climb one of the hig­her moun­ta­ins such as Troll­stei­nen, some­thing that is actual­ly quite popu­lar on that very day.

But it was clou­dy, so a tour some­whe­re in the near­by val­leys was a good thing.

Moon­light tour with dogs in Advent­da­len.

Today (Mon­day) was the first real­ly clear day. The grey snow clouds gave way to the clear sky during the mor­ning. The blue light of the late polar night is now giving way to the pink-blue light of the ear­ly polar day, at least around noon.

So today we could see the sun again – at least indi­rect­ly. It won’t be befo­re 08 March that you can see the sun direct­ly in Lon­gye­ar­by­en again, some­thing that will be cele­bra­ted duly. But the moun­ta­ins are now get­ting beau­tiful crowns of pink-oran­ge glo­wing light now for a while around mid-day.

First sun­light on Hiorth­fel­let.

The sun remain­ed abo­ve the hori­zon for quite some time, cas­ting her beau­tiful light over the moun­tain tops for the first time in months, while the moon is clim­bing over the peaks.

Yes, and we do have 20 degrees (cen­ti­gra­de) and even more. Below zero, of cour­se!

The moon next to Advent­top­pen.