nature, Photography

Northern Icelandic Weather, Part I

27 Comments

We spent a few days enjoying the benefits of the Icelandic hot springs and could easily see visiting one of them regularly if we lived here. The waters are extremely soothing, especially if you have any skin conditions, and the effects of the warm water very relaxing.

Mývatn Lake with an old magma field in the foreground.

However, as we enjoyed the Mývatn Lake hot springs near Reykjahlið in the north, we began to realise that bad weather was on the way.

After spending a comfortable night at a hotel in Reykjahlið, the next morning an employee warned us of an impending storm that was expected to arrive in the north during the course of the day, bringing freezing rain, ice pellets, gale force winds and possibly … snow.

Those white spots? Large, fluffy snowflakes!

We got going right away to our next stop, a hot springs spa in Húsavík, a town on the Greenland Sea, but the storm was beginning to settle in.

By the time we arrived for our appointment, the management of Geosea was considering closing because of the high winds, but decided to stay open when a lull occurred. Because we were within easy reach of our stop for the night in Akureyri, we stayed for our appointment.

This is what we saw when we arrived in Húsavik: an overcast and stormy view of the Greenland Sea with snow capped mountains across the fjord.

The break in the storm meant that after our hot springs appointment, our short drive to Akureyri was fairly uneventful and lead us to believe that the storm might be abating, but we were in for a bit of a surprise.

Stay tuned for part two.

27 thoughts on “Northern Icelandic Weather, Part I”

  1. Sounds like an interesting time, Lynette.
    Over here in the UK, we’re getting unseasonally cool weather as we’re getting the winds from Iceland, and later this week, from the Arctic!
    Have fun.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Yes, western Canada is getting unusually chilly weather as well, but after our record-setting temperatures and forest fires last year (some of which burned underground all winter – they’re called “zombie” fires), rain and cooler isn’t a bad thing. Central and eastern Canada are getting seasonal weather. I know what those Arctic lows are like; the wind can be dire. Thanks Stuart; we’re on our way back – and I’m hanging on since I have picked up a nasty flu bug. Negative for Covid, though.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Iceland weather, kind of a bit like Canada. If you don’t like the weather, wait for 5 minutes. It will get worse. The scenes look lovely though. Did you book with a tour company who provided a hire car and accommodation or do it all on your own. We have been looking at going back for some time. Happy Sunday Lynette. Allan

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Allan, people were saying that it was unusual for the weather to be that bad. The wind was terrible; we hadn’t experienced anything that sustained (2 days of nearly hurricane-force winds), even in NWT. Our vehicle was being buffeted – ugh. But yes, it was otherwise quite changeable and similar to what we get in the more northern parts – wait 5 minutes for a change!

      We did all our own trip planning: car, hotels, everything. M really likes to organise the travel and for the most part it worked out very well. There were a couple of hiccups caused by weather but that was out of our reach. Cheers.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. The hot springs and geothermal pools in Iceland are amazing. Everyone goes to the Blue Lagoon, which we thought was overpriced when we went nearly a decade ago (so I’m sure it’s even worse now). There’s so many other heated pools or natural hot springs to enjoy though.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. They sure are, Linda. Blue Lagoon is crazily overpriced (and overrated, in my opinion) because it’s near Reykjavik and lots of people go for day trips (it’s closed right now because of the nearby eruptions), so there’s a bit of a captive market. If you go back, I would recommend Geosea near Húsavík. Much less expensive and has amazing views, but yes, you’re right, there are lots of choices.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I couldn’t agree more, Belinda. At least we knew how to handle the conditions and also had a four-wheel drive. There were some very nervous tourists about; people who didn’t have (or very limited) winter driving experience.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Pingback: Northern Icelandic Weather, Part II | In the Net! – Pictures and Stories of Life

Comments are closed.