Norway’s warmest year on record was 2025, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (Meteorologisk institutt) said on 7 January 2026, after national average temperatures ended 1.5°C above the 1991–2020 normal. The institute also reported that 2025 was the eighth wettest year in Norway since measurements began in 1901, with 10% more precipitation than normal.
Record heat, measured against today’s climate normal
The Meteorological Institute uses the 1991–2020 period as its “climate normal” baseline for comparing current conditions with recent decades. Against that reference, 2025 was exceptionally warm across the country.
The institute said the annual anomaly was +1.5°C nationwide. It also calculated that, compared with a pre-industrial reference period (1871–1900), Norway’s 2025 annual temperature was 2.8°C higher.
Why 2025 would have been “almost impossible” in 1900
Alongside the record, the institute published its first attribution analysis for Norway’s annual temperature. Attribution studies estimate how much human-driven global warming has changed the odds and intensity of an observed event.
Researchers concluded that a year like 2025 would have been near-impossible to reach in large parts of Norway around 1900, but becomes increasingly plausible in today’s warmer climate. In other words, the analysis links the record year strongly to human-caused climate change.
All months were warmer than normal, a first in the dataset
A second striking feature of 2025 is its consistency. The institute said every single month in 2025 ended above the 1991–2020 normal — the first time this has been recorded in the national series.
Monthly departures varied, with the warmest anomalies coming in late winter, early spring and mid-summer, and with December standing out as the month furthest above normal.
Regional patterns: Trøndelag set a new record
The record year was not uniform across Norway. The institute classified 2025 as “extremely warm” in much of Trøndelag and Northern Norway, and largely “very warm” elsewhere.
Trøndelag registered its warmest year, with an anomaly of +1.8°C above normal, surpassing its previous record set in 2020. Northern Norway matched its record-warm year from 2024, while Eastern Norway and Western Norway recorded their second warmest years in the series.
A warm year can still be a wet one
Temperature records do not automatically imply drought, and 2025 illustrates that clearly. Norway’s national precipitation total ended 10% above normal, ranking 2025 as the eighth wettest year since 1901.
The wettest conditions were reported across large parts of Trøndelag and Northern Norway, while precipitation in much of Southern Norway was closer to normal, with local pockets of unusually dry or unusually wet conditions.
How Norway’s record fits the wider Nordic and EU picture
Norway’s record comes during a period in which Europe and the Arctic are warming faster than the global average, a well-documented pattern often linked to Arctic amplification. This makes Northern Europe especially exposed to year-to-year climate extremes, including longer warm spells, heavy precipitation, floods and landslides.
In neighbouring Nordic countries, national meteorological services have also flagged unusually warm conditions in 2025. While each country uses its own datasets and baselines, the broader signal is consistent: recent years dominate the warmest records, and the climate Norway experienced in 2025 is expected to become less rare over time.
What to watch in 2026: impacts and preparedness
The 2025 record is likely to keep climate policy and adaptation on Norway’s agenda, from flood and landslide prevention to infrastructure standards and health planning during heat episodes.
The Meteorological Institute’s attribution work also adds a clearer public message: events that were once statistical outliers are becoming part of the climate Norway must plan for, with consequences that will be felt across the Nordic region and, increasingly, in EU-level discussions about resilience and emissions cuts.
