Weather

Contrary to popular belief, Iceland has very mild, coastal climate. The mild conditions stem from the Gulf Stream as well as being affected by the East Greenland polar currents. These systems curve southeastwards around the northern and eastern coasts of the country. It can vary from bright sunny days with endless blue skies to periods of wind and rain and even snow or sleet in July – nothing is guaranteed.

The summer months of May to August are usually the easiest time for travelling in the Westfjords area. The Fall, Winter and Spring also provide their own exciting opportunities for adventures. In our opinion there is no such thing as bad weather, just different kinds of weather, providing new challenges to enjoy. A calm winter night at anchor in a remote fjord with cold, crisp air and magnificent northern lights racing across the sky is something you will never forget even if the next day brings a nasty snowstorm!

The average temperature in the summer is less than 10ºC with average highs in the mid teens, but a quick change should be expected. To mention a few extreme examples we could be enjoying leisurely sailing in +18ºC with hardly any snow in sight as people did on February 17th 1998 or on the totally opposite end of the spectrum fighting through extreme blizzards with -31ºC as people did on February 4th 1980. In the summer we could be basking in a heat wave with a temperature of +29ºC as we had on July 2nd 1991 or shivering in snow and -4ºC as on July 21st 1986.