The Weather

The climate in Swedish Lapland is one of the best kept secrets in Scandinavia.  Most people think that it's cold, dark and covered in snow all year round.  Northern Sweden actually has a very moderate climate with four distinct seasons.

Daylight hours differ immensely between summer and winter and the northern location means the sun stays out all night throughout the summer months.  From the middle of May to the middle of August, the sun simply does not set.

The summers are generally warm and the average temperatures are higher than many European countries. Temperatures tend to stay around +15C to +25C throughout most of the summer, although +30C is not uncommon in July. There are 10-12 weeks of 24hr daylight in the summer.

From mid May until mid August the sun can be seen all day, every day. Rainfall is far less than the European average, as northern Sweden is one of Europe’s driest regions. Only Spain and parts of Russia have less rainfall.

The winters are crisp and dry and run from December through to March.  The snowfall in Lapland can start in the autumn and mid-winter temperatures can periodically drop to -35C and average out at around –15C.

Mid winter is dark with only a few hours of daylight each day. From February onwards the days are full of light again and the sun becomes incredibly powerful against the bright, reflective snow.

The darkest period is at the end of December when Jokkmokk receives about 4 hours of daylight every day and the bright white snow reflects the available daylight very effectively. The snow cover is deepest in the middle of March just before spring time, when the snow thickness varies from 60-90cm and the region has more daylight than central Europe.