Nina's Blog - Saturday 27th July 2024

Saturday 27th July 2024, 13:40

Started to work out my plans for visiting the UK next year. This is determined in part by the rules on summer and winter tyres in Norway. Can't switch to summer tyres until Sunday following Easter Monday. Easter Monday is 21st April next year so I can't switch until 28th. So my earliest departure would probably be 1st May. And I'd have to be back in Norway before 29th October to be less than six months out of the country.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

Seems a complicated way to do something related to the latitude, weather and road conditions? Why don't they make it a fixed calendar date, or perhaps better, as the Norwegian meteorological service advises?

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@ArishMell There is another condition that has to be taken into account. Easter is the most important holiday in Norway. Huge numbers of people go on holiday in the mountains to ski in Easter week. The weather in the mountains is much colder and snowier than in the lower lying coastal districts where most of us live so it's important to ensure that everyone who might drive there has the proper tyres even if it might already be reasonable to use summer tyres at home.

After the high traffic holiday period people are left to make up their own minds. Some mountain passes are not clear of snow until much later; Friisvegen for instance typically opens just after the solstice, 23rd June. The Roads Authority (Vegvesen) maintains a web page showing the status of such roads.

See:
- https://www.vegvesen.no/trafikk/fjelloverganger?lat=65&lng=15&zoom=3&layer=fer,tra,ctv,tfl
- https://vegtur.cc/sider/nar-apner-vinterstengte-fjelloverganger