Christmas: Already In Ísafjörður - Let it snow, let it snow, etc.

Let it snow, let it snow, etc.

According to Ísafjörður locals, the month of November was “rather tropical,” in terms of the climate, with unusually high temperatures and a notable lack of unpleasant windstorms. Indeed, the Icelandic Met Office reports the average area temperature for last month at a whopping 3.7°C, which is a full 0.9°C higher than the ten-year average.

After mostly escaping Sunday’s crazy trampoline storm, the good people of Ísafjörður were pleasantly surprised yesterday morning as they woke up to heavy snowfall that carried on throughout the day, enshrouding the town in a fuzzy white blanket.

Those not raised in a deep fjörd on the edge of the inhabitable universe tend to generally view snowfall as a nuisance, which is fair enough. However, fjörds this close to the North Pole tend to be really rather dark for most of the day at this time of year, which is why a generous sprinkling of snow can be so welcome: it literally brightens the day. Combined with glorious electrical lights, the snow will envelop the fjörd and its inhabitants in a warm, yellow glow. And that’s sometimes nice.

The accompanying images were shot at around six PM yesterday by one Sigurjón J. Sigurðsson, founder and editor of Ísafjörður’s beloved, enduring local newspaper, Bæjarins Besta, BB (which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary as an independent news outlet last month). An avid amateur photographer, Sigurjón has been documenting Ísafjörður life with is camera for decades. You can check his photo pages on Facebook and Flickr for more.

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